KANSAS CITY (AP) – A former Kansas City man who admitted fleeing the country to avoid paying child support will go to prison and must pay the nearly $171,000 he owes.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said 61-year-old Randy Lee Essary was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison.

Essary pleaded guilty in February, admitting he stopped making court-ordered payments of $1,500 a month in 2005. He later moved to Thailand to work as an executive for major hotel development company.

Investigators said his last documented entry into the U.S. was in September 2007 for his daughter’s wedding in Illinois.

But Essary did not fly directly to the U.S., instead flying to Canada and walking across the border into Washington state. He returned to Thailand the same way.

Essary was arrested in Los Angeles in February 2012.