Fight Bigamy

Kansas Man Gets 18 Months for Bigamy

It was an emotional day in court on Friday in Kansas for the victim and the man who was convicted of making her his second wife while he was already married.Charles Clemens, 61, was convicted on two felonies -- identity theft and bigamy -- after being married to two women from January 2006 to November 2008. Clemens received 18 months probation from a judge on Friday.

KCTV5's Shaun Broyls asked Clemens what he would tell the victim of his crime. "That's none of your business," Clemens said. "That's between me and her."

Clemens' second wife, Jamye Wear, was in court for the sentencing. She asked the judge for leniency in the case, despite saying that he scammed her out of tens of thousands of dollars. Her point to the judge was that if Clemens was in jail he couldn't work. And if Clemens didn't work he would not be able to pay her restitution.

The judge agreed and sentenced Clemens to probation.Clemens said he was sorry for any emotional distress his actions might have caused. After the hearing, Wear said she was hurt by the experience, but she just wanted to get this behind her.

From KCTV-5

SC Man, Bobby Lee Peoples, Jr., Charged with Bigamy

The Spartanburg County, SC Sheriff’s Office has charged a man with bigamy saying he was married to a woman in Roebuck and another in Greenville.

Bobby Lee Peoples, Junior of Greenville was arrested and has been released from the Spartanburg County Detention Center after posting bond.

The SCSO says a deputy was called to a home on Old Georgia Road in Roebuck on November 18 after a woman says she discovered Peoples, Junior had married a woman on October 15 in Asheville.

The South Carolina woman told deputies she wed Peoples, Junior in 2005 and they were still legally married.

The Roebuck woman says she received a text message from someone who was trying to reach Peoples, Junior. When she asked who was trying to reach him, the other woman replied that “it was his wife” according to the incident report.

The second woman says she lives on State Park Road in Greenville.

Deputies say they obtained marriage certificates from Spartanburg County and Buncombe County and presented the documents to a judge.

News Channel 7’s Chris Cato talked to the woman living in Greenville.  She says that Peoples claimed he was going to Homeland Security school in Florida, but she later found out he was actuallly living in Roebuck.

From WSPA.com

Warrant Issued for KY Bigamist, Jeremiah Travis Scudder

A bench warrant was issued Monday for a 29-year-old Villa Hills, KY man after he failed to appear in court for his sentencing on a bigamy charge.

Jeremiah Travis Scudder, who was free on his own recognizance, had previously pleaded guilty in Kenton Circuit Court to the felony that is punishable by one year to five years in prison.

In May, Scudder told an Enquirer reporter that he was in the process of filing for divorce from his first wife. Scudder said at the time that it was "childish and stupid" not to get the divorce and he regretted the trouble it has caused.

Authorities got suspicious after Scudder told his probation officer that he had been married twice but the official couldn't find a record of him ever getting a divorce in Kentucky, according to the criminal complaint.

He married Constance Holden nine years ago in Campbell County and Teri Mae Hutchinson August 2008 in Kenton County, according to court records. Scudder's first wife, with whom he has a son, told investigators that they separated about a year ago and never divorced.

Scudder is described as white, 6-feet-1, 150 pounds, with green eyes and brown hair.

It is the second bigamy case that has been prosecuted in Kenton County in recent times.

The first was in 1999 when Barbara Moore was convicted for being married to three men at once. Her first husband tipped police, and they arrested Moore right after her third wedding.

Her three-year sentence was conditionally discharged if she completed several requirements, including divorcing her first two husbands, according to a court clerk. Similar to parole, conditional discharge requires offenders to comply with certain provisions in exchange for not serving time in prison.

Moore never got the divorces and is wanted by authorities.

By Jim Hannah of Cincinnati.com

Serial Bigamist, Charles "Ed" Hicks Gets Another Year

Serial bigamist, online predator, Charles Edward 'Ed' Hicks received a four-year sentence with three years suspended from the Honorable John W. Brown for violating his parole according to Derek Wagner, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Chesapeake, VA. Hicks is also known as the Dr. Phil Bigamist.

Hicks told the Court that he had been unable to contact his parole officer because he had a stroke and somehow got to Florida where he was living on a boat. He also told the Court he had a bachelor's degree in engineering from Cal Poly and a Master's Degree from the University of Washington, his attendance at both schools is fabricated.! Hicks went on to say that a TV documentary had been done about him and ruined his 'good name'!

Hicks had been writing and seeing several women he met on online dating sites for over a year. He was well enough to travel the state of Florida, ride a bike ten miles a day, and climb the 30' mast of the sailboat where he was living.

Hicks was arrested last month in Key Largo, Florida on a warrant from Virginia for violating his parole.

Ladies....this man is an on-line predator. When he gets out of jail, he will start doing the same thing again. If you are going to pursue online dating, at a minimum Google the person's name. Check out these sites: Exposing Online Predators and Cyberpaths and Lovefraud.com.

For more information, see the article in the Virginian-Pilot and The Washington Post.

Woman Talks About Being Married to Bigamist, Charles Clemens

Jayme Wear married a charming man last year and they lived a good life at their Overland Park apartment. Until she discovered him with another woman — in another apartment at the same complex. The two women discovered they were both married to him.

On Tuesday, Charles L. Clemens, 62, pleaded guilty to bigamy in Johnson County District Court. He is scheduled for sentencing in December. Clemens and his other wife could not be reached for comment and his lawyer declined to comment.

Clemens had been married to his first wife for more than 20 years when he met and married Wear. On Tuesday, Wear, 57, went public with her story for the first time: Clemens told her he was a retired police officer who worked all over the country reconstructing accident scenes.

“He was a charming guy,” said Wear, who got an annulment in January. “I loved the guy, my parents adored him — they thought he was great.”

Through most of their relationship, “he paid the rent, he paid for the groceries, he bought me things.”

He was colorful and always wore cowboy boots, she said. “He told me he was from Texas and spoke with a Texas accent that I found out later he doesn’t have — he was really from Des Moines.”

He said he had divorced long ago but then Wear saw him in November in an apartment with another woman and the two women had a talk.

Wear said of the other wife, “she wasn’t as upset as I would have been if I’d have been her. The other wife said something like, “It’s always something with him,” Wear said. Police say there is no evidence either wife knew about the other.

“I think he had days reserved for me and days he spent with her,” Wear said.

Their apartments were in two different buildings at the complex on the 6700 block of West 140th Street, but he could see one apartment from the other, she said. Wear still wonders where Clemens got the money he spent on her, and about other things.

“There are still lots of unanswered questions that drive me crazy,” she said.

By Joe Lambe of The Kansas City Star

Washington State Man, Henry Paul Berry, Charged with Bigamy

Prosecutors on Monday charged a 70-year-old Mukilteo, WA man with bigamy after investigators alleged they found a marriage certificate between him and a 44-year-old medical aide who he met at the adult family home where his wife was living.

Henry Paul Berry filed a marriage certificate last fall, indicating that he and Dominque Uy were married Sept. 24, 2008, court papers said. Berry wrote on the marriage application that he was a widower.

But Berry's wife is alive, and suffering from the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, according to investigators. She lives in an Everett nursing home, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Tammy Bayard wrote in court papers. The couple have been married for more than 40 years, the woman's family told authorities.

Snohomish County sheriff's detectives first met Berry while they were investigating allegations against Uy.

She is accused of sexually assaulting a patient at a Marysville adult family home. The patient, who suffers from Huntington's disease, a neurological disorder, told investigators Uy forced herself on him. She denied the allegations. Berry told detectives he didn't believe Uy raped the man. He said he was planning to marry her because his wife had “passed on.”

Investigators later heard from the ill woman's sister. She was concerned that Berry was lying and stealing from his wife.Police found Berry's wife in a nursing home.The woman's nurse told detectives Berry had visited many times and referred to the woman as “my wife,” court papers said. Berry had last visited on Aug. 24, the nurse told police.

Detectives interviewed Berry who initially said he had divorced his wife. Later he admitted that he wasn't divorced. He denied telling the detective that his wife was dead. Berry said he told the detective that his wife had “passed on,” meaning she wasn't the same woman he had married, court papers said. He allegedly told investigators he didn't divorce his wife because it was too costly, Bayard wrote.

Investigators later spoke with Berry's son. He told them that his father asked him to marry Uy, who is originally from the Philippines and has been living in the United States illegally. Berry's son refused to marry the woman. He said his father then told him that he'd divorced his wife, the man's mother, and was going to marry Uy. Berry's son said he first learned that his parents weren't divorced when he read a story about the allegations against Berry in The Herald.

By Diana Hefley of The Herald

Parole Revocation Hearing Set for Charles Edward "Ed" Hicks

A parole revocation hearing has been set for Charles Hicks, serial bigamist, Internet predator, and in this writer's opinion, a sociopath.

The hearing is set for October 26, 2009 in the Chesapeake, VA Circuit Court.

Hicks did not report for parole in July 2008 and has been on the lam since. On September 16, 2009 he was arrested in Key Largo, Florida and later extradited back to Chesapeake, VA. This is the third time Hicks has been extradited to Chesapeake.

It is reported that he was seeing at least three Florida women all the while lying about property he does not actually own in the Bahamas. 

Hicks could get the remaining four years of his suspended sentence. If you are a victim of this man, send email to cehsupportgroup@gmail.com.

John Melchiorre, Jr. Sentenced After Lying About His Former MArriage

A Springfield, PA man will serve probation on charges he made false statements to officials regarding prior marriages when he applied for a license to marry an Ambler woman.

John A. Melchiorre Jr., 39, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to one year of probation after he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of unsworn falsification to authorities in connection with a July 2008 incident.

Judge William J. Furber Jr., who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Melchiorre to complete 12 hours of community service as a condition of probation.

Other charges of bigamy and false swearing in an official proceeding were dismissed against Melchiorre as part of the plea agreement.

"He pleaded guilty to lying on his application for a wedding license. He indicated that he had no previous marriages when in fact his divorce had not gone through yet with his ex-wife," alleged Assistant District Attorney James Zoll, adding that even if Melchiorre didn't know that his divorce hadn't been finalized he still lied about his previous marriage. "Lying on the document is a crime."

Authorities originally alleged that Melchiorre committed bigamy by getting married to a woman in Ambler while still married to a North Carolina woman.

An investigation of Melchiorre began in August 2008 when a North Carolina woman notified county detectives with the bigamy allegations. The woman told detectives she married Melchiorre in August 1994 in North Carolina and that Melchiorre moved from their marital residence in June 2008.

The North Carolina woman told authorities she had recently learned that Melchiorre married again in Montgomery County while he was still married to her.

By Carl Hessler, Jr. of The Reporter Online

Serial Bigamist, Charles "Ed" Hicks, Arrested in Key Largo, FL for Parole Violation

Bigamist felon and Internet predator Charles Edward Hicks, also known as the Dr. Phil Bigamist, has been arrested in Key Largo, Florida and will be brought back to Chesapeake, Virginia as soon as the end of this week.

Hicks was released from prison in Virginia in October 2006, and his parole was transferred to South Carolina. He failed to show up for parole reporting in July 2008 and has been on the lam, until now. Hicks was reported to be living on a sailboat in Key Largo still preying on unsuspecting women.

When Hicks was sentenced in May 2006 he received a five-year sentence, of which four years were suspended. The judge could very well sentence him to the remaining four years when he returns to trial in VA.

Hicks has been married seven times and four of those marriages overlap. For more information, check out the sections about Ed Hicks on this blog. Also see an article in the Virginian-Pilot and an article and video at WAVY-TV.

Bride Sues Michigan Businessman for Bigamy

One Saturday in June 2002, Eugene Pallisco and his new bride, Lesley Keith, celebrated their $35,000 wedding and reception at the Ritz-Carlton in Dearborn.

The bride sported her 2-carat diamond ring. One hundred guests dined on crab cakes rémoulade, wild mushroom tartlets and $40 bottles of French merlot. They danced.

Not in attendance: Pallisco’s other wife and their four children.

Seven years later, Keith, 37, who now lives in Arizona, is seeking an annulment and money from Pallisco, 44, of West Bloomfield. She is charging that he is a bigamist who kept his 15-year marriage with his other wife a secret from her.

Pallisco, who is in the scrap metal and real estate business, admits that he was married to Marie Ann Hallman, who was born in August 1970 and is of West Bloomfield, at the time of his wedding to Keith. But he said the latter union was never official because the marriage license was never filed with the county after the ceremony.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Cheryl Matthews has set a Sept. 1 trial date in the case.

Pallisco tried to get the court file sealed earlier this month, saying the allegations were "scandalous" and would ruin his reputation. The file includes the then-happy couple's wedding pictures taken at the Ritz-Carlton in Dearborn, where the wedding was celebrated.

Matthews denied his motion, saying dryly, "The rice is still on the wedding photos."

He says, she says

Pallisco is a well-to-do businessman who was living a double life, said Keith's attorney, Norman Lippitt. "He told her from the beginning he was divorced," Lippitt said. "She had no reason to doubt him. This was a bigamist's marriage."

Pallisco has several explanations, according to the court files. In addition to his contention that "it's not legal because the marriage license was not filed," he also argues in a separate lawsuit in Oakland County that an "unknown woman" -- Keith, the woman he exchanged vows with in the photos -- applied for a marriage license without his knowledge in 2002 and is "impugning him regarding his marital status."

In that suit, Judge Rae Lee Chabot, unaware of the Ritz-Carlton wedding, ruled the marriage application invalid.

Another explanation offered by Pallisco's attorney, Robert Sheehan, is that Pallisco is the victim of a bizarre extortion that began in 2000 when a Detroit police officer tried to "shake down" Pallisco's scrap and recycling business. Sheehan said Pallisco knew Keith casually, and when she learned of his problems with the police, told him she and her family had connections with the Police Department. If they had a "pretend" marriage, Sheehan said, then Pallisco, too, would be "family" and the shakedowns would end.

"The wedding was a sham, and she knew it," Sheehan said. "And despite my client's better judgment, he agreed to it."

What about the diamond ring and the $35,000 wedding?

Problems from the Start

"Yes," Sheehan said. "There was an event. And a ring. I'm sure you've seen the pictures."

However it ends, the marriage was far from a match made in heaven, according to court documents.

Pallisco met Keith in June 1997 at Picano's restaurant in Troy, where she worked as a bartender and waitress. In February of the following year, Keith said Pallisco told her he was divorced and asked her out for dinner, according to court filings.

In the course of their courtship, she said, he never took her to his home -- something she found odd. But by 1998, he was supporting her, she said in her court filings. Pallisco, according to the suit, took her and her family members on trips to Las Vegas and Chicago, and showered her with gifts.

Four days before the 2002 wedding, Keith applied for a marriage license at the Oakland County Clerk's Office, listing Pallisco as the groom. The night before the wedding, Keith said in her suit, Pallisco wanted to cancel it, but he went ahead with it. They fought and argued on their wedding night, the suit said, and Pallisco left.

Within days of the wedding, the couple moved to Las Vegas and eventually to Arizona, but Pallisco was gone for weeks at a time, missing holidays and telling Keith he had out-of-state business, she said in her complaint. Keith alleged she repeatedly asked him for a copy of the marriage license so that she could open bank accounts in their names, but he never produced one.

Pallisco's attorney denied those allegations and said the two never lived together. And any money Keith got was a loan from Pallisco, Sheehan said. Pallisco has filed a suit in Arizona, asking for the money back.

Keith eventually called the Oakland County Clerk's Office and learned that the marriage license had never been filed by the minister who oversaw the ceremony. In a sworn affidavit to the court, the minister, Robert Zaloga, said he does not know why he failed to file the license, but that he specifically recalls marrying the couple, who wanted the ceremony to have a "Catholic tone."

"I specifically recall having a casual conversation with Eugene and the best man before the ceremony, including the fact that he was moving to Las Vegas," Zaloga said.

By L.L. Brasier of the Detriot Free Press

Police Officer Accused of Bigamy in Tennessee

He took an oath to be both a husband and a police officer. Some said the mid-state man was serving and protecting his own interests. 

A jilted and embarrassed wife said she wanted her husband prosecuted for the crime.

"I fell head over heels with him, and I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with this man," said wife number two.

It was supposed to be the perfect wedding and Jason Kenney the perfect husband.

"He sold me a bill of sales. He conned me and he conned my parents," said wife number two.

She thought she was the only one with Kenney. In fact, there is a marriage certificate from Alabama. Then she discovered another marriage certificate one from Tennessee with a different woman, a second wife.

"I was devastated, crushed, shocked," said wife number two.

The accused husband was a police officer and someone who was supposed to uphold the law.

"If your married to two at the same time in the state of Tennessee - that's a charge of bigamy," said Kyle Evans, Murfreesboro Police Department. When Murfreesboro police learned of the situation they immediately opened an internal investigation and found yet another strange twist.

Police said Kenney, a then-member of the Army National Guard, falsified military orders this past June to get time off for training. In actuality they said he took a trip to Las Vegas. "While in Las Vegas it was our understanding he was attempting to get married to what would have been a third woman," said Evans.

They said they tracked down the bride-to-be in Vegas using cell phone records and told her about Kenney. There was a message exchange on Facebook between the bride-to-be and the two wives.

"I'm stuck in Vegas with a wedding dress - turns out the groom has two wives already," said bride-to-be. "I'm glad we saved you, I'm so sorry," said wife number one. Okay, I got to control my temper. I'm glad I was saved. Thank you," said bride-to-be. "We don't want to tread on your feelings," said wife number two.

"I'm not part of this anymore. His stuff is being taken out of my apartment as I type. I can't tell you how grateful I am to you both," said bride-to-be.

NewsChannel 5 did try to contact Jason Kenney for comment but had no success.

At this time, he is not charged with any crime, but one wife did file a complaint with the Metro police department. Also, Kenney is no longer a police officer. He resigned not long after Murfreesboro police opened their internal investigation.

Kenney does have two sons from a prior marriage to another woman he did legally divorce, and two daughters from one of the two women he is still currently married to.

Both wives said they are seeking divorces and one said she would like to see Kenney prosecuted for bigamy.

From NewsChannel5.com

FL Woman Arrested for Bigamy

Pamela Long Wiggins, 47, has been arrested again in Escambia County, FL — this time on bigamy charges for being married to two men at the same time.

NorthEscambia.com first reported July 16 that court records obtained by NorthEscambia.com indicated that Wiggins appeared to be married to two men.

Wiggins, who is charged as an accessory after the fact in connection with the murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings, was married in December 31, 2008, to Hugh Gregory Wiggins, 48, by a court clerk in Shalimar, Florida. That marriage license, as first reported by NorthEscambia.com on July 16, was witnessed by murder suspect Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. and his wife Tabitha C. Gonzalez.

But court records in Escambia County indicate that her divorce from her previous husband is not complete.

Under the name Pamela Long Malden, she filed for divorce from James Colburn Malden, 68, on January 29, 2008.  Escambia County court records indicate that the case is still open.

Wiggins was out on $10,000 bond after she was charge as an accessory after the fact in connection to the July 19 deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings.

From NorthEscambia.com