Bigamist 'Bishop' Anthony Owens Jailed Again in Georgia

The bishop promised he wouldn't marry another woman before he divorced his other eight wives. That was more than a year ago when he was in prison serving a two-year sentence for bigamy.

But it seems that Bishop Anthony Owens, dubbed the marrying minister, went back to his old ways.

Since his release from a south Georgia prison in November 2005, at least four other women claim that Owens, formerly of Duluth, has proposed to them. And, there is no evidence that he ever divorced any of his wives.

Now the good bishop is back in the Gwinnett County jail, on a probation violation charge, waiting for a judge to decide if he should go back to prison.

Owens, 35, violated his probation when he left Georgia and moved back to his home state, Tennessee, to re-establish his traveling ministry after being released from prison. It was during that time, four women say, Owens asked for their hand in marriage, two of them at the same time.

In the past he has granted jailhouse interviews; this time Owens isn't talking. Owens refused an interview for this story and had no attorney to speak on his behalf. But the women who say Owens proposed to them over the last two years are talking.

Betty Dixon, a 38-year-old nurse, said she met Owens last March at a casino in Memphis. "He was a slick talker," Dixon said. "He told me God had sent him to me and I needed help."

Dixon said she let Owens move in with her. The bishop proposed to her and took her shopping for a new home, she said. But after she put in a 30-day notice to leave the home she was already in, she said Owens disappeared and left Dixon and her six children homeless.

"I had to scrape money together to find another place to stay," Dixon said. "When he proposed, he didn't have a ring. He told me that the ring was locked in a safe, and he had forgot the combination to open it. I never saw the ring."

That may have been because Owens had given the ring to somebody else. Around the same time, 43-year-old Karen Ward, a mother of two young kids, says Owens was talking marriage with her, too.

Ward said she met Owens at a chicken wing restaurant in Memphis last November. She said she dated Owens, and he promised to move her family to California.

"He said God gave him a message that he was going to move my family to California for a better life," Ward said. "I gave up my apartment. I took my children out of school. He said he is a real man of the Lord. But he is just a mess. I hate the day that I met him."

What Ward and Dixon didn't know then was that Owens had a history of multiple marriages. They didn't know that he had spent time in prison for bigamy.

In past interviews. Owens claimed that his misunderstanding of Mormon teachings was one of the reasons for his multiple marriages. He also said he lost his mother as a young boy and was searching for a mother figure in the older women he married.

At the time, Owens said he planned to divorce all of his wives after he was released from prison in 2005. But clerks at the Shelby County courthouse in Tennessee, where most of the marriages originated, said recently they have no record of Owens seeking any divorces.

"I know that what I did was wrong," Owens said in a prison interview in 2005. "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 those apologies were for the women Owens admitted to marrying at the same time. Ward and Dixon say they never got an apology. They also were surprised when they learned there were two other women who said Owens had proposed to them.

Darlene Keeler, a 42-year-old manager of a gospel group, said she met Owens at a local church in her Mississippi neighborhood. Unlike the other women, Keeler says she has no complaints about Owens. She said Owens proposed to her in November 2006, and she has the ring to prove it. Records show that she has even visited Owens at the Gwinnett County jail since his arrest. "I really feel that he is ready to settle down now," Keeler said. "I didn't know him two or three years ago when he had a problem with all the wives. I've been with him for a while, and he is a good man." Keeler said she heard rumors that Owens may be engaged to other women but she doesn't believe it.

Cheryl Selmon, on the other hand, does. The 48-year-old Memphis nurse said Owens proposed to her last October. "The ring that Darlene is wearing right now, he offered it to me," Selmon said. "I said, 'Anthony you can't offer me some dirty ring that is not even in a box.' I said no." Selmon said she talked religion with Owens. She said she also paid for him to live in a hotel for several weeks.

Owens was booked into the Gwinnett jail April 30 after he turned himself in. He is being held without bond for the probation violation. A court date has not been set for that charge, Gwinnett authorities said.

A judge could sentence Owens to four years in prison. He also could get probation again and be released from jail very quickly, authorities said.

If he is released, at least one woman says she will still be there for Owens. "I have the ring," said Darlene Keeler. "I will be waiting for him when he gets out."

By Lateef Mungin of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Owens' Marriage Chronology
According to police reports, Owens' first marriage was in 1990 in Memphis, Tennessee, Owens' birthplace. At the age of 18, he married 43-year-old Joanna Hill.

He said the marriage was troubled from the start and that a misunderstanding of Mormon teachings led him to marry 41-year-old Earleen Mabien in 1992, even though he was still married to his first wife.

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 eleven months later in the same Tennessee county. And, finally, Gwen Robinson of Duluth in 2002.

During their marriage, Robinson learned about the other wives and called Gwinnett County police.

Owens has said he did divorce some of the wives, but he can't remember which ones.

Read more at MyFoxAtlanta.

Comments

[lisa]

I just post a comment before reading this article on Bishop anthony ownens. I know this to be true because this is the same time that i met anthony. He talked about wanting to marry me, and buying me a house, we even went to look at some houses. He told me about Darlean, but he told me that he had to keep her around becuase she was one of the people who was on the account from the bank to get his money.
He asked me to come work for him and every staff member would be getting a car and house. It was amazing that every week he would give the same story about how his money was held up in the bank and that it would be available on this day, this went on for weeks. I guess i was one of the lucky ones because i didn't give up anything and I didn't lose anything.
Darlean this is to you if you are reading. I understand that you love this man. I always say that you can't help who you love, but you can love this man and walk away. Just because you love him that don't make him to be the right man for you. After reading all of this and hearing everything about this man, do you really think we are all making this up. Darlean i met you face to face, I have spoken to you and I think you are a wonderful women, you are beautiful and you do not have to settle for any man. Do not continue to let this man hurt you.

[OneOfSeven]

What a surprise....NOT! These guys never change. Hopefully, Georgia will keep Owens in jail a little longer this time.