Syracuse Area Man-Baby Back in the Spotlight for Being a Deadbeat
The life story of Michael Rotondo of Camillus continues to unfold like a bad Lifetime movie. A story that the world finds absurd, yet can't seem to turn an eye away from with a main character who perfectly depicts an actual deadbeat human being.
In May of this year, Michael Rotondo became something of an internet sensation as his name was on the tips of everyone's fingers as they took to their keyboards to express their opinion on the conundrum Rotondo had caused.
Rotondo, a 30-year-old Camillus resident, refused to move out of his parent's home, even though they asked him nicely. Instead of taking action and acknowledging the request his parents made on February 2nd, Rotondo sat back on his haunches, doing nothing. That's right- he completely ignored his parents. For nearly four months.
Mom and Dad Rotondo tried everything they could to get their son to move out, even going so far as to offer to help him find moving boxes and to give him money so that he could afford to rent an apartment. And yet, Rotondo remained sloth-like, not moving, not taking things seriously.
Rotondo's parents showed an incredible amount of patience until one day they'd had enough and consulted with an attorney. Rotondo eventually found himself before a judge where he was basically told if he didn't put his big-boy-pants on and move out of his parent's home on or before June 1st, he would be thrown in jail.
In a move that came as a surprise to absolutely nobody, Rotondo waited until the late morning of June 1st to load up his car with his belongings and wave farewell to reporters and curious gawkers as he left his parent's home for the last time. And just when the world thought it had heard the last of the stubborn man-child, Rotondo is back in the news.
On June 6th, five days after moving out of his parent's home, Rotondo was back in court, this time facing a judge for not paying child support. Rotondo lost custody of his son, now eight-years-old, in 2017 and it was determined that he owed the boy's mother a total of $2,600 in back child support.
It's not like Rotondo was ordered to pay a heap of child support from the get-go. As a matter of fact, his weekly child support obligation was only $56. As he stood before the judge, Rotondo was told he must pay up or face judgment day.
Unsurprisingly, Rotondo did not pay and judgment day arrived.
Rotondo failed to pay his back owed child support and on Wednesday, July 25th, found himself once again before Judge Julie Cecile who went soft on Rotondo, in my opinion.
According to Syracuse.com, the conversation went down like this,
[Judge Julie Cecile said] she would sentence Rotondo to probation for a year. He refused. Cecile said his other choice was 30 days in jail. "What if I accept neither?" the unemployed man wondered. "Then I will take you in, and you will be doing 30 days" in jail, the judge replied. "Then I choose probation," Rotondo replied.
But wait, it gets better. When the judge explained the rules of the probation and asked Rotondo for his thoughts, he replied,
"The only socializing I do is at a bar," to which the judge shot back, "The whole point is that the money you're spending at a bar should be going toward your child."
No words. We literally have no words.