Conway, S.C. ? When Johnny Sterling Martin was drunk, he would brag about not paying child support, his fourth wife, Phyllis L. Anderson-Martin of Conway, S.C., said.

But that’s when the truth about Martin really came out, Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said. Martin, 58, was charged with faking his own death in 1979 to avoid paying more than $30,000 of child support in Lexington County.

He was arrested Tuesday in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Martin, a father of three, owes child support for two children he had with ex-wife Gayle Prince, Metts said. Efforts to reach Prince on Wednesday were unsuccessful. A lawyer for Martin has not been named.

In the summer of 1979, one of Martin’s relatives called Lexington County Family Court and said Martin had died in a bar fight in Birmingham, Ala. Family Court Judge Frank Lever Jr. dismissed the matter on July 27, 1979.

Sheriff’s officials are investigating which relative called Family Court and what type of documentation was given to Lever, who has since died, Metts said.