Fight Bigamy

Warrant Issued for KY Bigamist, Jeremiah Travis Scudder

OneOfSeven — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:59:10 -0400

A bench warrant was issued Monday for a 29-year-old Villa Hills, KY man after he failed to appear in court for his sentencing on a bigamy charge.

Jeremiah Travis Scudder, who was free on his own recognizance, had previously pleaded guilty in Kenton Circuit Court to the felony that is punishable by one year to five years in prison.

In May, Scudder told an Enquirer reporter that he was in the process of filing for divorce from his first wife. Scudder said at the time that it was "childish and stupid" not to get the divorce and he regretted the trouble it has caused.

Authorities got suspicious after Scudder told his probation officer that he had been married twice but the official couldn't find a record of him ever getting a divorce in Kentucky, according to the criminal complaint.

He married Constance Holden nine years ago in Campbell County and Teri Mae Hutchinson August 2008 in Kenton County, according to court records. Scudder's first wife, with whom he has a son, told investigators that they separated about a year ago and never divorced.

Scudder is described as white, 6-feet-1, 150 pounds, with green eyes and brown hair.

It is the second bigamy case that has been prosecuted in Kenton County in recent times.

The first was in 1999 when Barbara Moore was convicted for being married to three men at once. Her first husband tipped police, and they arrested Moore right after her third wedding.

Her three-year sentence was conditionally discharged if she completed several requirements, including divorcing her first two husbands, according to a court clerk. Similar to parole, conditional discharge requires offenders to comply with certain provisions in exchange for not serving time in prison.

Moore never got the divorces and is wanted by authorities.

By Jim Hannah of Cincinnati.com

Serial Bigamist, Charles "Ed" Hicks Gets Another Year

OneOfSeven — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:39:33 -0400

Serial bigamist, online predator, Charles Edward 'Ed' Hicks received a four-year sentence with three years suspended from the Honorable John W. Brown for violating his parole according to Derek Wagner, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Chesapeake, VA. Hicks is also known as the Dr. Phil Bigamist.

Hicks told the Court that he had been unable to contact his parole officer because he had a stroke and somehow got to Florida where he was living on a boat. He also told the Court he had a bachelor's degree in engineering from Cal Poly and a Master's Degree from the University of Washington, his attendance at both schools is fabricated.! Hicks went on to say that a TV documentary had been done about him and ruined his 'good name'!

Hicks had been writing and seeing several women he met on online dating sites for over a year. He was well enough to travel the state of Florida, ride a bike ten miles a day, and climb the 30' mast of the sailboat where he was living.

Hicks was arrested last month in Key Largo, Florida on a warrant from Virginia for violating his parole.

Ladies....this man is an on-line predator. When he gets out of jail, he will start doing the same thing again. If you are going to pursue online dating, at a minimum Google the person's name. Check out these sites: Exposing Online Predators and Cyberpaths and Lovefraud.com.

For more information, see the article in the Virginian-Pilot. More news articles will be posted as they arrive.

Woman Talks About Being Married to Bigamist, Charles Clemens

OneOfSeven — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:40:37 -0400

Jayme Wear married a charming man last year and they lived a good life at their Overland Park apartment. Until she discovered him with another woman — in another apartment at the same complex. The two women discovered they were both married to him.

On Tuesday, Charles L. Clemens, 62, pleaded guilty to bigamy in Johnson County District Court. He is scheduled for sentencing in December. Clemens and his other wife could not be reached for comment and his lawyer declined to comment.

Clemens had been married to his first wife for more than 20 years when he met and married Wear. On Tuesday, Wear, 57, went public with her story for the first time: Clemens told her he was a retired police officer who worked all over the country reconstructing accident scenes.

“He was a charming guy,” said Wear, who got an annulment in January. “I loved the guy, my parents adored him — they thought he was great.”

Through most of their relationship, “he paid the rent, he paid for the groceries, he bought me things.”

He was colorful and always wore cowboy boots, she said. “He told me he was from Texas and spoke with a Texas accent that I found out later he doesn’t have — he was really from Des Moines.”

He said he had divorced long ago but then Wear saw him in November in an apartment with another woman and the two women had a talk.

Wear said of the other wife, “she wasn’t as upset as I would have been if I’d have been her. The other wife said something like, “It’s always something with him,” Wear said. Police say there is no evidence either wife knew about the other.

“I think he had days reserved for me and days he spent with her,” Wear said.

Their apartments were in two different buildings at the complex on the 6700 block of West 140th Street, but he could see one apartment from the other, she said. Wear still wonders where Clemens got the money he spent on her, and about other things.

“There are still lots of unanswered questions that drive me crazy,” she said.

By Joe Lambe of The Kansas City Star

Washington State Man, Henry Paul Berry, Charged with Bigamy

OneOfSeven — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:49:36 -0400

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

Parole Revocation Hearing Set for Charles Edward "Ed" Hicks

OneOfSeven — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:29:51 -0400

A parole revocation hearing has been set for Charles Hicks, serial bigamist, Internet predator, and in this writer's opinion, a sociopath.

The hearing is set for October 26, 2009 in the Chesapeake, VA Circuit Court.

Hicks did not report for parole in July 2008 and has been on the lam since. On September 16, 2009 he was arrested in Key Largo, Florida and later extradited back to Chesapeake, VA. This is the third time Hicks has been extradited to Chesapeake.

It is reported that he was seeing at least three Florida women all the while lying about property he does not actually own in the Bahamas.

Hicks could get the remaining four years of his suspended sentence. If you are a victim of this man, send email to cehsupportgroup@gmail.com.

John Melchiorre, Jr. Sentenced After Lying About His Former MArriage

OneOfSeven — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:22:25 -0400

A Springfield, PA man will serve probation on charges he made false statements to officials regarding prior marriages when he applied for a license to marry an Ambler woman.

John A. Melchiorre Jr., 39, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to one year of probation after he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of unsworn falsification to authorities in connection with a July 2008 incident.

Judge William J. Furber Jr., who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Melchiorre to complete 12 hours of community service as a condition of probation.

Other charges of bigamy and false swearing in an official proceeding were dismissed against Melchiorre as part of the plea agreement.

"He pleaded guilty to lying on his application for a wedding license. He indicated that he had no previous marriages when in fact his divorce had not gone through yet with his ex-wife," alleged Assistant District Attorney James Zoll, adding that even if Melchiorre didn't know that his divorce hadn't been finalized he still lied about his previous marriage. "Lying on the document is a crime."

Authorities originally alleged that Melchiorre committed bigamy by getting married to a woman in Ambler while still married to a North Carolina woman.

An investigation of Melchiorre began in August 2008 when a North Carolina woman notified county detectives with the bigamy allegations. The woman told detectives she married Melchiorre in August 1994 in North Carolina and that Melchiorre moved from their marital residence in June 2008.

The North Carolina woman told authorities she had recently learned that Melchiorre married again in Montgomery County while he was still married to her.

By Carl Hessler, Jr. of The Reporter Online

Serial Bigamist, Charles "Ed" Hicks, Arrested in Key Largo, FL for Parole Violation

OneOfSeven — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:50:26 -0400

Bigamist felon and Internet predator Charles Edward Hicks, also known as the Dr. Phil Bigamist, has been arrested in Key Largo, Florida and will be brought back to Chesapeake, Virginia as soon as the end of this week.

Hicks was released from prison in Virginia in October 2006, and his parole was transferred to South Carolina. He failed to show up for parole reporting in July 2008 and has been on the lam, until now. Hicks was reported to be living on a sailboat in Key Largo still preying on unsuspecting women.

When Hicks was sentenced in May 2006 he received a five-year sentence, of which four years were suspended. The judge could very well sentence him to the remaining four years when he returns to trial in VA.

Hicks has been married seven times and four of those marriages overlap. For more information, check out the sections about Ed Hicks on this blog. Also see an article in the Virginian-Pilot and an article and video at WAVY-TV.