Worst Dad Ever trying to skip out on child support sends lookalike to take paternity test

DNA information.
(Image credit: iStock)

If only he'd put as much effort into purchasing birth control as he did this scheme: A British man has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud after he sent a lookalike to take a paternity test in order to get out of paying child support.

Thomas Kenny, 25, was already the father of one and expecting another with his longtime girlfriend when he had a "fling" with another woman, The Birmingham Mail reports. The woman became pregnant in 2012, and Kenny asked her to have an abortion, which she refused. After the baby was born, Kenny never paid child support, and was ordered to give a DNA sample — that's when, the Birmingham Crown Court says, he sent the dopplegänger, who has never been identified, to fool people.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.