(TMZ) -- Former Bad Boy Records singer/producer Mario Winans got arrested for some serious deadbeat daddery ... as in $178,000 ... TMZ has learned.
Sheriff's deputies took Mario -- who featured on Diddy's hit, "I Need a Girl Part 2" -- into custody Wednesday in Bergen County, New Jersey for failure to pay back child support. According to docs, he's supposed to be paying $3,500 per month for his kid ... so he's clearly way behind.
In docs, Mario says he makes about $3,000 per month off his songwriting. He told the court he could secure a loan to immediately pay offr $10,000 off the debt.
That satisfied the judge enough that Winans was released, but with a GPS ankle monitor.