Con man, William Micheal Barber, sentenced to three years for creating phony identity
A 53-year-old con man, who has 19 aliases and has wooed women by pretending to be a surgeon, NFL football player or war hero, was sentenced Thursday to three years in state prison for marrying a Wharton woman in 2001 under a phony name and birth date.
William Michael Barber stood in a courtroom in Morristown in an orange jail-issued jumpsuit and barely uttered a word, even when his latest wife, Joyce (Reynolds) Barber, calmly told a judge she believes that Barber will never stop lying.
"If someone steals your car, your furniture, your computer, money can replace it. When someone steals your pride, your dignity, your self-respect ... no amount of money or time the defendant spends in jail can replace your pride, your dignity and your self-respect," the 49-year-old deceived wife told Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Falcone.
William Barber pleaded guilty on Sept. 22 to tampering with public records. He admitted to the judge that he applied on Jan. 5, 2001, for a license to marry Reynolds, whom he met over the Internet in late 2000 and wedded a week after he came to New Jersey. He said he used the fake name James Micheal Barber and added six years to his age for the license.
Annulment plea
Reynolds is expected to be in Superior Court again next week to ask a judge to annul the marriage on the basis of fraud. One of her attorneys, Jeffrey R. Pocaro, said he has proof that Barber was still married to a woman named Donna Layne Roberts when he married Reynolds on Jan. 19, 2001, in a ceremony performed by the mayor of Wharton.
In a pre-sentence report prepared for the judge, Barber denied being a bigamist, Falcone said. But the man who said he was born in St. Louis, Mo. admitted to having three wives before Reynolds. He said the last wife divorced him in 1993 while he was serving a sentence for fraud. He claims to have three children.
Falcone said he got a letter from Donna Roberts, a school teacher who claimed that she knew Barber as Christopher James Michael Barber. She wrote that he deserted her on Jan. 11, 2001, leaving behind bounced checks and bankruptcy filings for failed trucking businesses. When they met, Barber was in a wheelchair and had leukemia but miraculously recovered, the judge said.
"He claimed he was healed because of their love," the judge said of Roberts' relationship with Barber.
Jilted Missourian
He said he also heard from Diana Barber, a Missouri resident who cast William Barber as "a habitual, conniving, chronic fraud," who owes her $51,000 in back child support for their son, who is now 18.
Barber had told Reynolds he was a pediatric cardiovascular surgeon taking a sabbatical after his child died. According to the judge, he told another paramour he was a former professional football player.
Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Joseph D'Onofrio said that Barber has been committing fraud-related crimes since 1970. He has convictions in Illinois, Missouri, California, Wisconsin, and Louisiana, with his last prison term six years in Missouri for passing bad checks. D'Onofrio said that Barber tends to seek out "people looking for some connection" in their lives and then preying on them, as he did with Reynolds. He said he does not expect Barber to change, though Reynolds told the court she believes he needs psychological help.
"Only Mr. Barber knows who he is or what he's about,"D'Onofrio said. "There's the saying 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks.' Mr. Barber has committed these tricks his whole life. When he gets out, he'll probably be back to the same thing."
No degree
When Barber pleaded in September, he told the judge he got a degree in business administration in 1972 from the University of Missouri. Reynolds told Falcone Thursday she learned the purported education never happened because Barber was in jail in 1972. The judge understood her reference; he had received a letter on Sept. 27 from a woman in Arkansas, whose husband had partnered a few years ago with Barber in forming a fugitive recovery, or bounty-hunting, service to catch bail jumpers. This woman told Falcone that Barber in 1972 was serving a federal sentence in Kansas. Barber had told his bounty-hunting partner he was a war hero, with 30 years of experience in the U.S. Army.
Barber's life with Reynolds started unraveling in June, after his bounty-hunting partner got suspicious about a story Barber told of being arrested for being $50,000 in arrears on child support. Barber had told the partner, who started digging into his past, that he was married to the same woman for decades. This partner, along with Barber's sister Pamela Gaines, were instrumental in getting police to check into Barber's marriage to Reynolds in Wharton.
I have contacted good morning America and never heard back a few years ago. I was married to William "Christopher" Barber in 1994-1996. I met him in hot Springs , Arkansas. This can all be confirmed. I did finally divorce him after two years. I met his family several times during those few years but believed he loved me and would change. He took the name, Christopher, from my 2 year old son, probably to lure me in more. I was devastated when I discovered he was a fraud but recovered gradually in a year or so after he left Houston in 1977. if any former wives want to contact me, feel free. I think we should start a club to both expose him and help potential new victims. i am just now coming forward as my husband of 33 years has just passed and he didn't want me involved, but I am willing to be involved now if it will help other women and maybe even him. I always felt so sorry for his nice, normal, family. Susan Crankshaw [email protected], Thankful we were only together two years!!! And no children with him..thank God!! However, the pain was very real when i was only 22-24 years old.
Posted by: Susan Crankshaw | 05/04/2012 at 09:43 PM
William Michael Barber is a narcississtic sociopathic liar who destroys women in his path. He is so good at what he does that he can convince them he still loves them, in his own way.
The scarey thing about him is that He is also a con artist extraordinaire, who will con anyone, even business people, his bosses in Kansas City, the Masonic Lodges, businessmen in California, and of course Robert and LuVonda Donnellan. Not only is he just a bigamist, he is first and foremost a thief, a fraud and a con. He thrives on the grandiose lies that he believes. He needs to be kept off the street, and that is a challenge that is hard to do.
This website is doing a great job, we have only just begun in the fight to right a lot of judicial wrongs. Keep up the good work.
Posted by: Donna Layne Roberts | 10/23/2005 at 11:16 PM
Three years isn't nearly enough for this predator. He, like another one I know, needs to be under the jail. Victims of these con men bigamists must ban together and start pressuring the justice system in this country to do something more than give them a slap on the wrist and little jail time. In many instances bigamists get off with less that what most of us would pay for a speeding ticket.
Women and men need to become smarter too and if need be, we must start running full background checks on the people we become involved with. Sad to say, but the truth. The Internet has given these predators a whole new supply. These online dating sites could care less. They give a couple of links on how to date safe online, but I doubt any of them would link to the cheaters databases that are currently online or the TrueDater website.
We need to be more aware of and acknowledge the red flags. We need to start thinking more with our heads rather than our hearts. Most likely, if something is too good to be true, it probably is.
Posted by: OneOfSeven | 10/19/2005 at 06:54 PM
Gosh he looks THRILLED to be in that Orange Jumpsuit doesn't he? LOL.
Posted by: Barbara | 10/18/2005 at 10:53 PM