Chelan County, WA is prosecuting a woman for marrying a man before she was divorced from a different man.
Lorena Juarez, 32, of East Wenatchee, faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted on a charge of bigamy — having more than one spouse.
Juarez married a 54-year-old man in November 2007. He died in January 2008. Following his death, Juarez withdrew about $17,000 from a checking account the two shared and a memorial fund account on which she was the signer, according to an East Wenatchee police investigation.
The man's children and ex-wife approached police,
claiming Juarez was not entitled to the money. Because Juarez was still
married to another man, the deceased man's family claimed her marriage
to him was invalid and her claim to the assets void. Juarez' divorce
from her previous husband was finalized in February.
Douglas County Deputy Prosecutor Eric Biggar said his office declined charging Juarez with fraud and forgery, as recommended by East Wenatchee police, because she acted within the normal limits of a marriage. Biggar said the claim is a civil one.
Douglas County forwarded the bigamy matter to Chelan County, where Juarez' marriages took place, Biggar said.
By Jay Patrick from Wenatchee World
I'm the daughter of the second man and I want to say this. That she was not supposed to be the signer of that account, it was to go to the exector of the estate which was my brother. To this day I believe she murdered my father who was 54 and healthy. From this we lost the home that we grew up in and a father. Screw the money. We needed that to pay off his debts, but instead we're fighting her to even get an ounce of the money she stole to pay off lawyer fees. I cant' let someone go on something like this. Could any of you? She lied, and she cheated; proven in a civil suit against her by the way, but that's not enough. I want to see her in jail for a long time. What she did to this family was crippling, I'll never look at people the same and I know my brothers have been severly affected by this. I'm 27 and have been on my own for a while, but one just graduated high school and the other is almost finished with college. She destroyed the spirits of this family. If there is no justice served, I'll follow her to hell for what she did.
Posted by: Simone Williams | 09/27/2008 at 11:09 AM