Bigamist Anthony Glenn Owens Free After Serving Two Years

by: Lateef Mungin
Atlanta Journal Constitution
11/06/2005

Attention Joanna, Earleen, Queenie, Valerie, Mattie, Paulette, Shirley and Gwen: Your husband is out of prison.

Bishop Anthony Owens, the traveling minister who made national headlines by marrying a Duluth woman without divorcing his other wives, got out of prison Saturday after serving two years on a bigamy conviction.

In a prison interview conducted a day before he was to be released, the repentant preacher said he truly has been rehabilitated and has big plans for a new life.

Shortly after he walks past the barbed wire barricades of Wheeler Correctional Facility in the tiny South Georgia town of Alamo, Owens said he will issue a public apology to his eight wives. Then he will sign a stack of divorce papers.

"I know that what I did was wrong," said Owens, looking noticeably thinner and older than the man who used to woo women with religious talk and flashy suits. "I have apologized to them in as many ways as I know how. I've sent notes to them. I said I was sorry in national newspapers. I even asked for their forgiveness on the "Montel" [Williams] show. And still I plan to apologize again."

But for those who have followed this well-publicized saga of the marrying minister who said, "I do" to women in Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Alabama, another plot twist might be in store.

Owens says part of the story has not been told. And he thinks the information he is holding may surprise some people.

"I just want the whole truth to come out," Owens said. "Now, it is true that I was married to more than one wife. But they were not so innocent in this. Many of them knew I was married, and they married me anyway."

Owens would not be specific about what he's holding back, other than to say it might be of interest to the police. He said he wanted to save the details for an upcoming news conference, book and film. But if there is another chapter in this drama, it would be hard to top the bizarre tale that took Owens from pulpit to prison.

According to police reports, Owens and some of his wives, his first marriage was in 1990 in Memphis, Owens' birthplace. At the age of 18, Owens married 43-year-old Joanna Hill.

The couple had dated for about three months, Owens said. And Hill had two sons, ages 18 and 15. The marriage was troubled from the start, Owens said. And it did not help that Hill's teenage sons often complained that Owens was young enough to be Hill's third son. After only a few months of marriage, the couple decided to get a divorce, Owens said.

The only problem was Owens did not believe in divorce. He had already become a minister. He was building a nondenominational ministry and was studying the Mormon faith. Owens said his misunderstanding of Mormon teachings was one of the reasons he married 41-year-old Earleen Mabien in 1992 even though he was still married to his first wife.

Another factor was that he was searching for a mother figure, Owens said. His own mother had passed away when he was a child. Owens, 34, said he kept searching for a mother in the older women that he continued to marry.

He would love them and leave them, sometimes moving to another state as he struggled to find a home for the church he dreamed of building.

"I never tried to intentionally hurt those women," Owens said during the interview in the prison's visiting room. "I love them. And not all of them hate me. Only the last three hate me."

After Earleen, Owens married Queenie Sanders in South Carolina in 1995. Then Valerie Brown in Alabama in 1997. Then Mattie Noland in 1999, also in Alabama. Then Paulette Miller-Owens in 2001 back in Tennessee. Then Shirley Rhodes 11 months later in the same Tennessee county. Then, finally, Gwen Robinson of Duluth in 2002.

During their marriage, Robinson learned about the other wives and called Gwinnett police. Owens said he did divorce some of the wives, but he can't remember which ones. He reiterated that he plans to get everything straightened out once he is a free man.

Some of his wives say Owens did not just leave them brokenhearted. He also left them broke. Owens was a smooth talker who was able to convince his wives to pay the expenses Owens incurred in building his church.

Noland said Owens left her $50,000 in debt. Rhodes says that Owens left her homeless. Robinson said she spent $10,000 of her retirement money trying to help Owens build his church.

One of his wives said she will forgive Owens, but she will never forget.

"I am a Christian, so I have to forgive him," said Robinson, the Duluth wife who helped put Owens in prison. "But I do not believe he is rehabilitated. He will say the right things right now because that is what con men . . . do.

"But give it six months, and he'll back on the run conning people."

Though he has vowed to sign a stack of divorce papers, Owens said he does not want to sign one. "There is a wife that I still want to stay with," Owens said. "I really don't want to say it for the newspaper, but she knows who she is.

"One thing I wanted to say to all the wives is that I am not a con man," he said.

"I made mistakes, but I am still a man of God."

Comments

[lisa]

I want to say that i had the experience of knowing anothony owens. I met him in Memphis, Tn in October of 2007. Whoever said that he was a smooth talker was right, he made promise that he never kept. However, he told me about his pass at first i didn't believe him, then i looked him up on the internet. After reading his story and how he went to hotel to hotel in hopes of getting his church started i knew he was up to his old self again. When he was in Memphis he was doing the same thing. He was living in the hotel with his word that his money was going to be in the bank anyday and that he would pay his bill. Needless to say he didn't pay it, and had to leave the hotel.
I didn't know anthony that long, but after him telling me about his pass, i didn't want to really pass judgement on his because i believe in giving people a chance. After reading his story and one day he ask me to withdraw some money from my bank account just after knowing him for about a week i knew something was up. So ladies if you see this man, run, and run fast he is bad news. Oh, if you are wondering if i withdrew the money no i didn't.

[henry]

Hi,

My name is Henry Austin and I am North American Bureau Chief for Real People magazine in the UK.
We are one of Britain's largest weekly women's magazines and we pride ourselves on ensuring the welfare of everyone we write about.
I was wondering if someone might be able to put me in touch with one or more of the wives of Bishop Anthony Owens with the view to producing an article for the magazine.
Please rest assured that we read everything through to everyone we write about, before publishing.
We would also be willing to pay people $500 for their time in speaking with me.
If you have any queries please don't hesitate to either e-mail me on henry_austin@hotmail.com or call me on 416 922 1081 and I will answer any questions you may have.

Kind Regards

Henry Austin

[DARRA]

HE IS A NO GOOD MAN; I KNOW HIM LIKE A BOOK WITH HIS NASTY NECK AND THE LADY HE'S WITH DARLENE KEELER FROM BATESVILLE MISSISSIPPI AND HE HAS HER HEAD ALL SCREWED UP. SHE LEFT HER FAMILY BEHIND JUST TO BE WITH THIS MESS AND SHE LOST EVERYTHING SHE HAD-- SO LADIES PLZ BEAWARE

[Anne]

I'm only here because it happened to me, too. I'm now trying to research and dig myself out of this mess. Women BEWARE. It's not fun at ALL!

[Kim]

On the TV show "Relentless", Owens was quoted as telling some of the women that God sent him the vision that they were to be his wife. Ladies need to realize that if God has a plan for your life, he'll also give you the vision!

Don't blindly follow any man.

[OneOfSeven]

Anthony Glenn Owens left one $50,000 in debt; he left another homeless; he left a couple of others dead broke; he took $10,000 from Gwen and yet he says, "One thing I want to say to all the wives is that I am not a con man." Anthony Glenn Owens, this is just another lie coming from your con man bigamist, sociopath/psychopath mouth. Gwen is so right---give Anthony Glenn Owens six months and he will be right back at it. You cannot rehabilitate a psychopath.

[Barbara]

>"I made mistakes, but I am still a man of God."<

Un####ing believeable.

And man of God? only if that god is himself.

can we PLEASE tatoo WTF on these guy's heads to warn the public??

[Donna]

This just goes to prove that laws need to be changed!