North Carolina Resident Charged With Bigamy

Photo by Mike Licht

A man from Jacksonville, North Carolina was recently charged with bigamy (also known as polygamy) soon after his first wife called the police and turned him in. According to reports, the man was arrested for being married to two different women at the same time.

After some research, marriage records at the county’s register of deeds indeed showed that the man was married in 2002, and again in April of this year.

The 34-year-old husband told the police that he believed the appropriate divorce paperwork from the first marriage had already been filed. He married a second time in order to ease the purchase of a New York home which he was planning to visit just hours before his arrest. The man’s Facebook relationship status is listed as “it’s complicated”.

In the state of North Carolina, the punishment for bigamy is imprisonment for a minimum of four months up to no more than ten years.

If you suspect your husband or wife of bigamy you should discuss it with your attorney as bigamy is considered a criminal matter in the State of North Carolina. A North Carolina divorce lawyer can help you file for an annulment if you discover that you are in a bigamous marriage.