Dwayne Rudd, a former NFL player who lives in Atlanta, pleaded guilty Sept. 4 in U.S. District Court in Nashville, to failure to pay court-ordered child support charges, according to U.S. Attorney Edward M. Yarbrough.
Rudd, 33, played for the Minnesota Vikings (1997-2000), Cleveland Browns (2001-2002), and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2003) over the course of his seven-year NFL career.
He was previously ordered by an Illinois state court to pay $7,500 per month in child support but consistently failed to do so, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He currently owes more than $540,000 in child support.
“This is another sad example of a parent, who has the means to pay child support, failing to meet his court ordered responsibilities. Federal crimes like this are prosecuted aggressively by U.S. Attorney offices across the country,” U.S. Attorney Ed Yarbrough said.
Rudd will be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge John Nixon on Nov. 30. The maximum penalty for failure to pay child support is 2 years in prison.