Matthew Bevin, a former governor of Kentucky, was arrested on Thursday after resisting court orders in a legal dispute over child support payments, the authorities said.
Mr. Bevin, a Republican who was governor from 2015 until 2019, was picked up while on a movie set after a judge issued an arrest warrant, officials said.
The judge, Angela J. Johnson of Jefferson County Family Court, had ordered Mr. Bevin to turn over documents disclosing his income and assets to finalize child support payments to his son Jonah Bevin.
But Mr. Bevin, 59, has repeatedly failed to file those papers, John Helmers Jr., a lawyer for Jonah Bevin, said on Friday.
“There is profound sadness in that Jonah must watch his father choose jail over fulfilling his obligations to support his son,” Mr. Helmers and a co-counsel for Jonah, Melina Hettiaratchi, said in a news release. “Jonah did not seek this public conflict.”
A lawyer who was representing Mr. Bevin as of March could not be reached. It was not immediately clear on Friday if Mr. Bevin had other legal representation.
Mr. Bevin was in custody at the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections as of Friday afternoon, according to the department’s website.
Mr. Helmers said that a date for Mr. Bevin to appear in court had not yet been set.
The child support dispute stems from a divorce filing in 2023 involving Mr. Bevin and his former wife, Glenna Bevin.
Jonah Bevin intervened in the proceedings seeking child support after he argued that he had been mistreated.
The couple adopted Jonah, who is now 19, from Ethiopia when he was 5 years old.
Judge Johnson last year ordered Mr. Bevin to turn over documents detailing his assets and income to determine how much child support he must pay, Mr. Helmers said.
The former governor turned over some papers, but they were redacted, prompting Judge Johnson to request that Mr. Bevin refile his financial disclosures, Mr. Helmers said.
Mr. Bevin did not do so.
He was held in contempt this year by Judge Johnson after he failed to furnish the documents, Mr. Helmers said.
In June, Judge Johnson held Mr. Bevin in contempt of court for a second time, issued a warrant for his arrest, fined him $500 and sentenced him to 60 days in jail, Mr. Helmers said.
“These are routine financial documents that are ordered by everyone to file in divorce” proceedings, Mr. Helmers said, adding that, “It’s highly unorthodox for people not to comply with routine court orders.”
The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Friday that it had received a call at about 5:30 p.m. on Thursday that Mr. Bevin was participating in a movie being filmed in Kentucky.
Deputies arrived at the film set and took Mr. Bevin into custody “without any issues,” the sheriff’s office said.
On Thursday, the Great American Family, a cable television network that produces family-friendly programming, according to its website, was filming its latest Christmas film, “The Greatest Christmas Gift” in Paris, Ky., The Lexington Herald- Leader reported.
Mr. Bevin was appearing in the movie as an extra, the newspaper reported.
A representative for the network said on Friday that it was unaware of Mr. Bevin’s arrest.
Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.
