Biker Gets Welfare For Son Despite Custody Violation Meanwhile, State Taps Working Mother To Support Runaway Teen

Kenneth “Maggot” Fisette, a member of the Ghost Riders motorcycle gang in Spokane, gets a state welfare check to raise a child who isn’t supposed to live at his home.

The 15-year-old is his, but judges say the boy should be with his mother and that Fisette is flouting a court order by not returning him to her home.

Fisette was involved in a bloody tavern brawl with the Hells Angels in December and the subject of a police manhunt last fall. He’s also $6,000 behind in child-support payments.

None of this apparently matters to the state Department of Social and Health Services.

The state not only sends Fisette welfare cash, but also began prying child support out of his ex-wife’s paycheck from Yoke’s Pac ‘N Save, where she is a manager.

“There’s a flaw in the system,” said Michael Beyer, a Spokane attorney representing Sandra Fisette, who divorced Kenneth Fisette in 1987.

Beyer said the state’s support of the father at the expense of a working mother with legal custody defies common sense. He said the state is encouraging the tattooed motorcycle gang member to defy a court order and keep the boy in his home.

DSHS officials would not discuss specifics of the Fisette case, other than to say state tax dollars are sent to help the child, not the parent.

Mike Padelford, administrator of the state welfare office in southwest Spokane, said custody status and criminal backgrounds are not usually considered relevant when deciding who gets public assistance.

“From our perspective, we’re legal in what we’re doing,” he said. “If there are other concerns we’re not aware of, then we need to understand those.”

Aaron Powell, regional administrator of the state’s Child Support Enforcement Office, summed up his agency’s position: “The system is established to effectively collect for the welfare of the children.”

Beyer said the reasoning is flawed. “The kid is the big loser here,” Beyer said, claiming the teenager prefers to live with his father because he doesn’t have to heed his mother’s stricter rules. “He’s not being taught accountability.”

Beyer, an 18-year veteran of family law, said the state should require recipients of Aid For Dependent Children (welfare) to have legal custody of the child.

Beyer said if Kenneth Fisette wants welfare he should have to prove he can provide his son a better home than his ex-wife - something Beyer said would be impossible to do.

The Ghost Riders leader as recently as the early 1990s, Fisette said he is disabled and has been unemployed for 11 years. His criminal record includes a conviction for grand larceny, but shows no felony convictions during the past 20 years.

Fisette’s new wife, Yolanda Fisette, lives with him at their home on South Inland Empire Way. She was convicted for heroin possession in 1994.

Kenneth Fisette said he is providing a good home for the boy, and downplayed his involvement in the Ghost Riders and the gang’s feud with the Hells Angels.

“I haven’t had any problems with the Hells Angels,” he said. He also said his boy is well-dressed and goes to school every day.

Sandra Fisette said her son admires his dad and is seduced by the motorcycle club lifestyle.

Following their 1987 divorce, Kenneth Fisette was ordered to pay $75 a month in child support. The boy lived with his father for a while, then returned to his mother.

In July 1995, Sandra let her son stay with his father for a month. Then he didn’t want to come home.

She filed a runaway report in August. But even when her son was later brought home there was no way to keep him from running back to his dad.

So she hired Beyer.

On Oct. 9, Superior Court Commissioner Richard B. Kayne ordered that the boy “shall return to his mother’s home immediately.”

Kenneth Fisette was found in contempt of court in December for failing to return the boy. Commissioner Robert Scanlon ruled that Fisette should be jailed.

He never was. The reason is unclear.

Two months later, Fisette was involved in the early stages of a fight between Ghost Riders and Hells Angels outside the Comet Tavern that ended in a double-shooting with one Ghost Rider dead. Fisette was not charged.

Sandra Fisette continued trying to get her boy back.

But on Jan. 25, the state notified her that $156 would be pulled automatically from her check each month for child support - to offset the welfare check the state sent to her ex-husband.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “All these doors just slammed in my face.” Beyer convinced a judge to at least temporarily stop the state from garnishing her wages.

Spokane Police officer Jeff Clark, who watches Spokane motorcycle gangs, said he doesn’t believe the boy is in danger at Kenneth Fisette’s home.

“I’ve never had a problem with Kenny,” Clark said. “Whenever I had a problem with the Ghost Riders, I’d go to Kenny and he’d take care of it.”

As for the boy, Clark said: “He’s a very bright kid. I’ve been getting on him for not being in school.”

The last time Sandra Fisette saw her son, he was walking on the streets and wouldn’t talk to her. “It breaks my heart,” she said. “This is all so crazy.”

, DataTimes