Wayne Yee Chinn is a
convicted arsonist. Now 50 years old, he has also been convicted of
theft, forgery, bail jumping and bigamy for being married to more than
one woman at the same time.
He has been married at least seven times over the last three decades. According to some of those wives, a former fiancée and girlfriends, Chinn has left a trail of heartache across five states. Women, like Chinn’s fifth wife, Cynthia Castile of Eagle Creek, Ore., say he has left them in financial ruin.
"It makes me sick to my stomach," she said.
Chinn’s former fiancée, "Michelle" of Boise, Idaho, said she fell victim when Chinn pretended to be a naval reserve officer and was deployed to Iraq. He was actually on the Oregon Coast, married to another woman.
"When they call them con artists, that is what they are, they are artists, " Michelle said.
The women are telling their stories in the hopes they can protect other women from the same fate. Wayne Chinn was most recently married in September 2007. Less than a year later he has been using Craigslist.com personal ads to find another relationship. His ad states he’s looking for "A Great Woman." It states he is a chef and naval reserve officer. The On Your Side Investigators replied to the ad undercover, and Chinn responded within two and half hours, writing: "Forward a contact phone number, and possibly a picture."
In mid-May, Chinn set up a MySpace page. His profile says he is "single."
Chinn’s trail of wives began in Centralia, Wash., in the late 1970s, where he married wife No. 1 and had two children. After a divorce, he married his second wife. In 1981, an article in the Tenino Independent Newspaper described how Chinn burned down a lumber mill where he was a security guard. Prosecutors said he committed arson while trying to prove the company needed his services and should not lay him off.
After prison, Chinn lived with his third wife in Bellingham, Wash., and became the parent of his third child. While he was still married to her, court records show he was married to a fourth wife. Court records show Chinn got an annulment, called a "decree of invalidity of marriage" from one wife, and a divorce from the other and avoided prosecution for bigamy. Chinn’s third wife said that Chinn left her in a "financial black hole."
In 1999, Chinn dated Cynthia Castile while they worked together on a cruise ship. "Wayne came on board, and, of course, swept me off my feet, said all the right things I needed to hear at that point in my life," she recalled. But the honeymoon and marriage didn’t last.
Chinn went to prison in Washington state for bail jumping after he was convicted of victimizing someone else in a forgery crime. Castile said she spent about $14,000 defending her then husband.
After prison, the couple was going to start a new life in Estes Park, Colo. Castile said Chinn moved first to get established. Still back at their home in Tillamook, Ore., Castile would learn she wasn’t Chinn’s only wife.
"So I called what I thought was his place of employment, and Sharon says ‘He doesn't work here,’ and I said, 'He doesn't?' She says 'No, I fired him in December.'
And I say, 'That's interesting,' and she says, 'But he's still in the area, him and his wife have a gift shop in downtown Estes Park,' and I said, 'His what?' She says, 'His wife.' I said, 'I'm his wife.' She says, 'Well he's got two then, doesn't he.' "
Castile pressed charges, and Chinn was convicted of bigamy in Tillamook County.
"I don't know if he has the ability to tell the truth," said Michelle, looking back at her roller coaster engagement to Chinn. "It isn't about a love gone wrong. The whole thing was a scam", she says.
Michelle and some of the other women say Chinn played on their sympathies with a tale about his two children being killed in a car accident.
But the On Your Side Investigators have learned those children, from his first marriage, are now adults. They are both alive and well.
The women also say they had to live with the constant knowledge that Chinn could be called to duty anytime as a naval reserve officer. Cynthia Castile even received e-mail messages from two admirals. One message said "Commander Chinn" was assigned to "Homeland Defense."
While Chinn was with Michelle in Idaho, he got word he was being sent for duty in Iraq.
"I'm getting called by the reserve," said Chinn in a message left on Michelle’s answering machine. She began saving voice mail messages when somebody began using her credit cards in Oregon while Chinn was supposed to be overseas.
In February of last year, Chinn left another message and interrupted himself to give military orders: "Hey you. Hold on just a minute. Roger that enterprise 6-7. Message confirmed. Be prepared for that. Secondary is on its way to you as I speak. Anyway, just calling you."
Then Michelle got the news that Chinn was critically wounded in Iraq with a spinal cord injury. An army officer, identified as "Col. Christian," e-mailed Michelle about another terrible discovery: Chinn was also suffering from colon cancer.
By e-mail, Chinn berated Michelle for giving him "attitude" when she urgently inquired about his condition and chemotherapy. Chinn informed her that doctors were seeing an "increase in cancer cells."
Chinn asked Michelle to send him a care package to the military hospital in the Middle East that included tennis shoes. Three days later, in mid-September 2007, she bought him new Nikes. The On Your Side Investigators have determined that was the very same day Chinn was actually in Seattle getting married to his seventh wife.
Official Navy documents reveal Chinn actually left the Navy in 1978 after serving as a cook. During the period Chinn was supposedly in a war zone, in a two-front battle for his life, he was in the Northwest. He and his latest wife were in Reedsport, Ore., preparing to open a new restaurant at the Forest Hills Golf Course.
"He was calling me and giving me this very weak sounding voice from Iraq," said Michelle, "asking me to ‘be sure and not forget the Toyota payment, sweetheart,’ after he was married." Michelle said she had to declare bankruptcy after being left $65,000 in debt.
Late last month, Chinn and his current wife moved out of their duplex in Springfield, Ore. According to her family, they left behind unpaid debts. The couple moved to the mountains of Wyoming, where Chinn was hired at the White Pine Ski Resort near the town of Pinedale to manage the restaurant and hospitality staff.
In Wyoming someone posted another personal ad on Craigslist.com containing similar language to Chinn’s Oregon postings. The ad was signed "W."
When contacted by phone and asked about the many women, Chinn hung up and did not return follow-up phone calls.
Michelle said she filed complaints with police departments in multiple cities, but said each time she was told it is not a crime to lie. That leaves women Chinn has loved and left to wonder who is next and to marvel at how he keeps all the stories straight.
"I have no idea. I really, truly don't know how he does it", said Cynthia Castile. "It just amazes me. It really truly does."
By Dan Tilkin and KATU-TV Web Staff. View a video at this site.
For more information visit 2NewsTV.
Wayne is still using BBPeoplemeet.com with the user name loverofallthings
Posted by: almosttkn | 09/18/2011 at 03:37 PM
September 10, 2010
Wayne Chinn
I've been away since June 1st with only sporadic ability and little time to sit down and really write something. But now I have about 2 weeks before I have to return to work, so here is what I hope is not my last letter to you, but if it is, well, I've said what I've needed, and I'm at peace with what I've said.
Ever since the start with you, I have been in Love! You are seemingly my soulmate! You entered into my life at a time that I was wanting to be free of Cynthia because I felt that she was taking advantage of anything she could to support her girls. And so the move to
Colorado. She forced me to lose my restaurant as a result of her giving money to her daughters, and not replacing it into the business. You werein my life at this time too, and to me, you were what I always wanted. Someone who was in my line of work, wanting to be have more children, and all the other elements were there too. You
were sexy, sexual, we meshed together well, we bantered and teased back and forth, I Loved that! And still do! Always
will !!! Then, I met Kim...It was a casual meeting that really surprised me when she showed up in Estes announcing that she was moving there to be with me! At the time, I was shocked, and I didn't know how to tell her that you were here, AND I didn't know how to ask you or tell you about her. I wanted to be with you. You offered much more of what I wanted, but she was there and in my face with expectation. And so, yours and my dancing around us began.
In all of my life, I have never, ever felt for someone like I have with you. You look, dress, Love and treat me like I want to be treated...And I Love that about you....I have many regrets with you and about us.
I have asked you to give me another chance several times...You have said you would, but every time, you don't follow through..I don't find fault or blame for you, but I want you to know that I have been serious each and every time. I cannot take us back to February of 03, stop by Pendleton, and sweep you off of your feet..I can't take us back to Estes, and marry you...And, sadly, I cannot take us back and have our children together...These are just a few of my regrets.
This is what Wayne wrote to me in September of last year..So up to then he was still trying.
Posted by: Susan | 05/13/2011 at 10:27 AM
He's trying to hide out in Wasilla, AK as you said at the Last Frontier Brewery. But there are some people looking for him, the money he owes them, etc. His "current" wife Debbie is with him who works at K&L Distributing in Anchorage, Alaska & is either blind or abused. Half the city knows about him already, hope he doesn't rip off all the customers credit cards :(
Posted by: mary | 02/10/2011 at 08:55 PM
I posed the question because I KNOW the girl Wayne molested and then ultimately raped when she was a child. This went on for years and she's scared to death to come forward. Don't fool yourselves into believing he's not a molester, he is. Protect your children!
Posted by: Beth | 12/30/2010 at 01:43 PM
Wow... this saved me from even meeting the guy , THANK YOU
. He is trolling the online dating sites for new victims. He contacted me through BBPeoplemeet.com with the user name banachef and his phone # 907-382- 1268
Ladies beware, he talks a good game, he must have had lots of practise. He started in pretty quick in phone conversations about his woefull past with marriage and children.
Thank you again for the save, I will spread the word and try to save others from his treachery and evil.
Posted by: Shari | 10/25/2010 at 02:56 AM
Ignorant sympathies? What are you talking about? Everyone on this post has had some type of contact with Wayne, unfortunately. I'm just glad people are willing to share their stories, so hopefully no one else gets manipulated by him. I am sorry that you got a bum deal in the father lottery of life, but then a lot people have parents that suck in one way or another. I personally hope people keep tracking him down and holding him accountable for his actions, even if he will never learn from them or ever change. At the very least his path of destruction will be interrupted from time to time. Perhaps you need to move on with your own life. It is not your responsibility to save these women. And yes, I do believe he will get his in the end...what goes around...come around.
Posted by: Kat | 08/29/2010 at 07:27 PM
With the exceptions of people like his ex wives, and co-workers. You people have no idea. Zero idea what it's like. He's not a child molester, granted he could have changed that since '97. But you guys have no right to give us ignorant sympathies. To his co-workers and ex-wives, you do have my sympathies. Every chance I have gotten, I have told his wives that they need to leave. But no matter what, you have to learn it the hard way because you wouldn't have truly believed me. That's just the way his situation works. Now because of the article and sites like these, some women might not have these stories. Which is a godsend that they will never understand. Hating someone is not worth your time, neither is constantly tracking him down, unless Child Support is involved. Let him live however much of his life is left. If you really believe he will reap his own karma, then let him. It took me years to be able to. And I have to live with his legacy. As his daughter.
Posted by: His daughter | 08/23/2010 at 04:36 AM
I met him many years ago. When I first met him he told me he lived in Portland Oregon, and he was working on a dinner cruise ship. He would never invite me to his house, and when I asked why he told me that he lived with his cousin and she was a psycho, and that he did not want me to have to deal with her. Little did I know that it was his wife Cynthia. I found out on Valentines day of all days when I received a call from her wanting to know why her husband was calling my phone number. We kinda set him up and yes he managed to smooth talk his way out of it, and stupid me took him back. He called me a few weeks later telling me that he left her and that he moved to Estes Park to get a fresh start and he wanted me and my daughter to move there to be a family with him.
I left a very good job and all my friends and family and moved to Estes Park. We were working at the same lodge and I was living at the lodge because I was in charge of the front desk. Evidentally the people at the job knew something that they werent telling me. I did however find out that he also had asked someone else to move to Estes and be with him too..I could tell you all a lot more..Just please beware of this maqn..he is very smooth and he always seems to know exactly what to say..It took a very smart 16yr old to open my eyes yet again to the kind of man that he really is! Yes the 16yr old is my daughter. She sent him a not so nice messageto tell him to stay away from us.
Posted by: Susan | 08/14/2010 at 09:23 AM
I don't believe Wayne is a child molester, but you never know. He has been convicted of arson, theft, forgery and bigamy. I believe he is a socio-path defined. I've known his wife for 30 years and he has isolated her from nearly all of her family and friends. He only keeps in touch with her Dad for money. When I read posts like the one below where he says his wife was murdered, I get very scared. Does anyone know where his wife, Debbie is? Is she working in Anchorage? Any information you have so her friends and family can contact her, would be much appreciated. Thanks to everyone who is keeping the truth on Wayne Yee Chinn out there. Hopefully he will never find another victim. Please contact me at [email protected] for more information.
Posted by: Kat | 08/05/2010 at 12:54 PM
He is in Anchorage. Just got fired from his last job. He was with us for a few months and lied constantly. He never actually worked! First his dad dies and has to take time to take care of it. Then he gets back and after a few days of training his wife is murdered. Beaten to death at an Anchorage gas station. The whole time something just isn't right. He is a "Chef consultant" in his spare time? Berates a coworker because he imagined the coworker stole it ("i could hear you talking in the background!!!")? All BS?
Now we are questioning the validity of a letter written to the office manager. It contained a long story about a traveler who Wayne stopped and helped when they were broken down. It applauded the company for having men of such caliber and decency blah blah blah. It took like 5 minutes to read. The whole office was choked up, some wiping their eyes. He humbly accepted the praise.
Basically I only met him a few times and I wasn't shocked when I found this site. A coworker and I were just this morning speculating that he was a con man.
I feel very bad for the women he has hurt and I am sure he will hurt more. I just wanted to share another chapter in this deranged man's book. If i get permission from work I will post numbers or addresses. I am just unsure if it is legal or not. I don't think I have broken any rules yet!
Posted by: Former Coworker | 07/30/2010 at 09:52 PM
Do any of you know if he has had inappropriate close relationships with young children? It was recently brought to my attention that Mr. Chinn could be a child molester.
Posted by: Beth | 07/30/2010 at 06:40 PM
Looking4evr is Wayne Chinn's user name on plenty of fish. I have sent them an email regarding his past.. He is a worthless person. I thank God I found out about him, listened to my insticts and checked him out. I would love to speak to his current wife. She needs to know the truth about this man. I told him I was going to run a background check on him, and he told me not to, that it would insult his integrity. LOL!!!! Isnt that just too funny?
Posted by: Anchorage Reisdent | 06/13/2010 at 07:25 PM
He is in Anchorage, his phone number is 907-382-1268. I received a marriage proposal from him this past week. He told me he was sent to Portland for a month for training for his job and he would be back on Monday June 14th, 2010. He is on Plenty of Fish and his user name is 4ever. He claims to work for Culinary Professionals and works with the oil companies. Ladies Beware!!!
Posted by: Anchorage Reisdent | 06/13/2010 at 07:05 PM
Beautiful blog with great informational content. I have know a lot about this news ! TKS !
Posted by: Air Jordans | 03/29/2010 at 09:58 PM
Wayne Chinn nearly ruined my life. Like other women I was told his son and daughter were killed while they were coming home from college to see him and that he was in the reserves and would probably be called out for active duty. We were to be married on Dec. 21, 2008. (Found out that he married Debbie in September of 2008.) He needed my help when he was "In Iraq" financially...paying the Toyota payment, all his utilities in the house he still had in McCall Idaho, his vet bills, and any other story he could think of to get money from me (and there were many) He told me he was injured in Iraq...paralyzed. He had his friend Col. Christenson and Col. Christensons wife E-mail me to keep me informed of his well-being. Now I know it was Wayne writing the E-mails. The story of being paralyzed was particularly cruel since that had actaully happened to my previous husband. Then the news came that he had colon cancer. I was beside myself with grief and worry. I had churches praying for him and sent him boxes of things he needed and asked Col. Christensen to ask me for...things I thought he would enjoy....the were sent to Col. Christensen's wife's father who was a pilot...(another lie) and he would see to it that Wayne recieved them in Iraq. It all seems so rediculous now as I look at these stories...but he is so slick...he sent me photos of himself in uniform..etc. He left me $65,000.00 in debt and I had to declare bankruptcy after all my years of perfect credit. All because I didn't want to say no to a man I thought loved me and was critically injured fighting for his country in Iraq. Long after I found out he was married, I made contact with him and started to write to him again. I let him think I was still in love with him and the ego maniac believed me. I told him everything he wanted to hear....just letting him be the victim for a change. I told him that my Mother had died and I had recieved $700,490.00 as my part of the inheritance, that I had lost 67 pounds and had new breast implants. The jackass really perked up with that news!! He professed his love for me and wrote me all kinds of sleezy disqusting E-mails. "Together" we planned to buy his grandfather's restaurant in Washington. When it came time to make the transaction, I quit answering my phone, quit E-mailing him and dropped his dream in the dirt. My friends thought I should send the E-mails to his wife, but I was afraid he would go "postal" and do something to my family. After all, he did set a sawmill on fire and burn it to the ground out of vengeance. The guy is a time bomb. I changed my last name so he can never find me.
Posted by: Lynnette L. Davis | 03/11/2010 at 01:57 AM
he was working at the embassy suites hotel 2 weeks ago with me
Posted by: jason | 02/28/2010 at 02:55 PM
he was just working at the embassy suites in anchorage with me 2 weeks ago
Posted by: jason wilson | 02/28/2010 at 02:54 PM
He's in Anchorage, Alaska since approximately October 2009 -- seen with a wife and a dog.
Posted by: Anchorage Resident | 12/21/2009 at 07:47 PM
Hi Jennie:
Thank you for your post. Do you know if Wayne is still working at the Trail Lake Lodge in Alaska? His wife is my best friend, or maybe I should say was, since she will not speak to me anymore. Do you know if she is working?
Thanks!
Posted by: Marianne Wadsworth | 09/13/2009 at 02:53 PM
He's in Alaska now living in Soldotna with current wife who appears to be a real nice lady. Unfortunately he's still not an honest man. Good thing you all have put your words out to the public. You all saved us from some serious problems. He left Wyoming to come to Alaska in early May. His phone number is 907-382-0258. I feel sorry for his wife and his dog. Something just wasn't right!
Posted by: jennie1952 | 07/30/2009 at 09:43 PM
I was also among the ones that was duped. I met Mr. Chinn online (and I use the word "mister" loosely) and we talked for nearly a month on the phone and through email until I agreed to meet him in the small lake town in Idaho where he was working.
I heard about the two children who died in an accident, I heard that he was an interpreter in the Navy, I heard all SORTS of stories. His computer had "caught fire" when he was at work, so off we drove to Boise one day to purchase one. I think the idea was for ME to purchase the computer, but I didn't bite. While waiting for his check to clear at the computer store, I jokingly said " What? Are you wanted or something? Rob a bank?" Little did I know! After arriving home, he wanted me to sign a piece of paper in my signature as he was "taking a class, and they were doing handwriting analysis". I signed, but it was not my signature.
The visit was a poor one - to say the least. He was looking for money; I was not giving him any. I left on the third day of my five day stay immediately after he left the house that morning. I never looked back.
I DID, however, receive the emails from "Mr. Christian" -
stating that Wayne was very ill, also that Wayne had left me as his beneficiary (IF I would send my SSN) and that Wayne wanted me to have his dog, Holly (which was the only good thing about the whole trip).
He is evil incarnate. My sympathies go out to all the women - and children - he has hurt. I know he will get his in the end. And, I think, he knows it too.
Posted by: J. | 05/06/2009 at 07:31 PM
Well Stef, he is residing in Pinedale Wy, working for a catering company in Jonah gasfield. Not PTI, one of the other ones. There was a home phone posted 307-537-3252, and a work #307-212-5274. I've met him, and he is slick. We don't need him in Wyoming.
Posted by: Tom | 03/23/2009 at 06:53 AM
It is very sad that he has duped SO many women.
I was among them, though not included in any of the reports.
I have, for years, been embarrassed over my naivete
Looking back now, I think "How could I have fallen for that!?"
And my only answers are "he's good" and I was young and naive and wanted to believe in a "good guy".
How disgustingly wrong I was. And it cost me not only money, but freedoms.
I hope this man rots in hell and if anyone knows how to get a hold of him, let me know.
It may not mean much, but I want to sue the pants off him and make him pay for what he did not only to me, but others as well. (I know it's a pointless effort, but it makes me even more mad as I further learn the discovery of his destruction.)
No woman (or person) deserves to run into a creature like this.
Posted by: Stefanie | 09/26/2008 at 12:12 PM