A Taylors man who was found dead in a Spartanburg County jail cell Friday had missed several court hearings for unpaid child support, records show.

Kelvin Thomas Taylor, 48, of 140 Chick Springs Road, owed $1,446.88 in unpaid child support to a Greer woman, court records obtained from the Spartanburg County Child Support Enforcement Division show.

Taylor was arrested Nov. 23 following a car crash and taken to the Greenville County jail on a methamphetamine possession charge, but was later transferred to the Spartanburg County jail Thursday on a family court bench warrant.

He was found hanging in a cell in the medical wing of the jail and was taken to the Spartanburg Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Court records show that Taylor had failed to appear for several court hearings before authorities issued a bench warrant for his arrest on Nov. 1.

Clerk of Court Hope Blackley said there are seven to eight employees in the child support office and each one takes on about 3,000 cases. She said a high percentage of cases involve parents who aren't paying child support, which are difficult cases to follow up on. Typically, those who owe support are put on the family court docket several times before a judge signs a bench warrant if they are not appearing.

At times, defendants leave the area or move to new locations and cannot be found.

“It can be a big hide-and-seek game,” she said.

She added that Spartanburg County’s child support filing system is antiquated. The state was supposed to have implemented a child support enforcement system back in 1997 that would connect all the separate county systems, and link to other states', to make it easier to find deadbeat parents, but the process remains mired in delays and fines.

“The (current) system doesn’t even notify us. We have to basically manually document everything or wait for a call to complain,” Blackley said. “People think we can do more than we can do if someone doesn’t pay. It’s only a piece of paper at the end of the day.”

Blackley said she’s looking into borrowing Greenville County’s records system, which is more up-to-date, in order to better flag cases of unpaid child support.

The order for Taylor’s bench warrant states he was supposed to appear in court Feb. 29 and most recently on Oct. 24, but never showed and was not making his weekly payments as ordered.

In Taylor’s case, his child’s mother will likely never see the money owed to her, Blackley said.

“Basically, it won’t get paid,” she said.

Records show Taylor worked for Southern Mechanical Inc., a mechanical contractor in Piedmont. Records show he earned a gross monthly income of $1,389. As of a June 14, 2013, court ruling, Taylor was ordered to pay $56.42 per week.

He was issued an order making him financially responsible for the child on May 20, 2013.