Washington State Man, Henry Paul Berry, Charged with Bigamy

Prosecutors on Monday charged a 70-year-old Mukilteo, WA man with bigamy after investigators alleged they found a marriage certificate between him and a 44-year-old medical aide who he met at the adult family home where his wife was living.

Henry Paul Berry filed a marriage certificate last fall, indicating that he and Dominque Uy were married Sept. 24, 2008, court papers said. Berry wrote on the marriage application that he was a widower.

But Berry's wife is alive, and suffering from the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, according to investigators. She lives in an Everett nursing home, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Tammy Bayard wrote in court papers. The couple have been married for more than 40 years, the woman's family told authorities.

Snohomish County sheriff's detectives first met Berry while they were investigating allegations against Uy.

She is accused of sexually assaulting a patient at a Marysville adult family home. The patient, who suffers from Huntington's disease, a neurological disorder, told investigators Uy forced herself on him. She denied the allegations. Berry told detectives he didn't believe Uy raped the man. He said he was planning to marry her because his wife had “passed on.”

Investigators later heard from the ill woman's sister. She was concerned that Berry was lying and stealing from his wife.Police found Berry's wife in a nursing home.The woman's nurse told detectives Berry had visited many times and referred to the woman as “my wife,” court papers said. Berry had last visited on Aug. 24, the nurse told police.

Detectives interviewed Berry who initially said he had divorced his wife. Later he admitted that he wasn't divorced. He denied telling the detective that his wife was dead. Berry said he told the detective that his wife had “passed on,” meaning she wasn't the same woman he had married, court papers said. He allegedly told investigators he didn't divorce his wife because it was too costly, Bayard wrote.

Investigators later spoke with Berry's son. He told them that his father asked him to marry Uy, who is originally from the Philippines and has been living in the United States illegally. Berry's son refused to marry the woman. He said his father then told him that he'd divorced his wife, the man's mother, and was going to marry Uy. Berry's son said he first learned that his parents weren't divorced when he read a story about the allegations against Berry in The Herald.

By Diana Hefley of The Herald