Before vanishing on paddleboard, man who owed $500,000 in child support had 'flamboyant and expensive lifestyle'

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Fort Lauderdale Police Department(MIAMI) — The Florida man who mysteriously vanished on a paddleboard into the Atlantic owed $500,000 in child support — yet had been living a “flamboyant and expensive lifestyle,” according to court documents.

Constantine Theoharis — who police say was last seen on March 20 near his Fort Lauderdale home, heading north into the ocean on his paddleboard — had traveled to the Bahamas, Costa Rica and ski resorts, the documents show.

He was living a “flamboyant and expensive lifestyle while ignoring his child support obligations,” according to the court documents, which were filed by Theoharis’ ex-wife, Stacy.

“He is refusing to pay any of his Court-ordered financial obligations,” according to documents filed in Broward County last month. “The severest of sanctions must be imposed against Former Husband, including, incarceration and the imposition of monetary fine.”

Constantine and Stacy Theoharis had been divorced since 2008.

In happier times, the couple married on February 28, 1998. They had two children, who are now 17 and 14 years old.

But nine years after being married, the couple separated, three days before what would have been their ninth wedding anniversary.

According to court documents, the couple separated “in consequence of disputes and irreconcilable differences.”

At the time of the divorce, Theoharis had visitation rights two weekends per month, split holidays with his ex-wife, and had time with his children during the summers.

Court papers from 2008 said he had a “recent substance abuse problem” and was ordered to undergo random drug testing four times per year until 2010.

An affidavit from December said he had not paid any child support after Aug. 6, 2014.

He owes more than $549,000 in child support, according to court records from last month.

Constantine Theoharis does not appear to have an attorney at this time.

Theoharis’ ex-wife and her lawyer declined to comment.

When Theoharis, 52, mysteriously disappeared, a neighbor’s surveillance camera captured him taking off on his paddleboard, according to his brother.

“It’s like the worst dream you could imagine,” his brother told ABC News on Wednesday. “I want answers.”

Theoharis’ cousin, Chris Damian, reported him missing on March 23, telling police he hadn’t heard from Theoharis since March 18 when they spoke on the phone.

According to the police incident report, Damian told the authorities that Theoharis had “been depressed lately and they usually talk by phone daily. … He was depressed over a recent divorce and child support payments but he was not suicidal.”

Damian told police he “thinks that the child support issues could have forced him to leave the U.S. because of pending upcoming court action for nonpayment,” the incident report said.

But police said Damian had “no proof that he took this type of action.”

Damian said it’s unusual for his cousin to not contact anyone in the family for that long, the incident report said.

When Theoharis headed into the ocean on his paddleboard, he left behind his phone, wallet, keys and passport at his house, his brother Rick Theoharis said, which alerted him that “something was way off.”

Rick Theoharis said his brother was very adept in the water and a frequent paddleboarder.

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