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A Seattle-area corrections officer has been charged with bigamy after his two wives learned about each other on Facebook, prosecutors say.
Alan O’Neill, 41, married his first wife in 2001, when he was known as Alan Fulk, according to The News Tribune of Tacoma. The couple split up eight years later, and Fulk moved out, but the pair never divorced, the newspaper reported.
Last December, he reportedly petitioned to have his name changed to O’Neill before marrying his second wife.
The first wife allegedly learned about the second wife when Facebook recommended the two women become “friends,” Prosecutor Mark Lindquist told The News Tribune.
O’Neill, who has worked as a Pierce County corrections officer for five years, has been placed on administrative leave and is scheduled to appear in court March 22 on the felony charge.
Lindquist told the newspaper that the first wife alerted authorities to the dual marriages after he asked her to keep quiet about it while he fixed the situation.
Apparently, she wasn’t convinced.
“It’s not the crime of the century, but it is a crime,” Lindquist told the newspaper.
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Too much exposure to mitt romney and Big Love. Maybe the wives didn't understand the "principle".
Why the heck would anyone want 2 wives?
De2Or2010
Mitt's been married to one woman, and that happened clear back in 1969 (43 years ago). Your comment is more stupid than funny... if that's what you were going for.
Sounds like he should have divorced the first one faster. Nothing hear, really. Just stupidity and a mean first wife.
You have to admit that the 1st wife must have been prettu bad for him to have his name changed!!!
Good ole facebook. "And another one gone, and another one gone, another one bites the dust!"
I do not see how his name change was prompted by his first wife. He seems to have been in communication with her. So he wasn't hiding from her. In any case, I've made my comment on this matter below.
He probably changed his name so that when the clerk looked up his first and last name, his real name wouldn't come up and show that he's already married, which would forbid him from marrying wife #2.
" In any case, I've made my comment on this matter below." - Huh? Thanks but none of us even care about what you have to say...
systembroke, I'm wondering that, too! It can't be cheaper than hiring a hooker for a night, or even insurance against a SDT. Maybe it's the matter of convenience if one of them has a headache! -- or the guy is looking to produce as many children as possible -- but then he shouldn't stop at TWO! LOL
Not the crime of the century -- but still a crime.
When does bigamy become polygamy? Bigamy = 2 wives; polygamy = more than 2? Or is the "legally" married factor come into play there? (shrugs) I'm serious. I don't know the answer to that.
Sounds more like Newt Gingrich than Mitt Romney.
True... technically speaking, and from a legal standpoint.
But, anyone who thinks that a member of Mitt Romney's standing with 'The Church' does not currently have --or will never have-- additional, celestial wives sealed to him, simply does not understand the most basic tenets of the LDS faith. Period.
There is enough truth to the comment that you criticized, that it's at least worthy of a 'heh!', if not a 'ha ha ha'.
So we are allowed to criticize a man for having two wives but not for having a husband? Just trying to clarify here.
guessing he didnt want to pay alimony, and cant say i blame him if thats the case. as long as a womans arms legs and so on works, she can find a job.
This sounds more administrative than anything else. Given the timeline, he very well could have been "with" only one woman at a time. Not sure it's newsworthy...but hey.
I don't know. I thought the same thing until reviewing the article again. He moved out in 2009 and changed his name in 2011 and got married right after. Sounds like he was diddling on the side.
If your going to do that at least get the damn divorce finalized.
Sigh, I came in expecting fireworks. This was more of a lit match than anything, pretty disappointing.
It's a crime to marry two wifes? Any man courageous or stupid enough to mary two wives should be hushand of the year!
The reason he probably didn't get a divorce was because his ex was some spiteful b!+ch that would have taken him for everything he owned....the fact that she reported him, 3 years after separating, seems evidence enough of that. One would think, if nothing else, this would just give her grounds for a divorce, but no, she evidently wants to ruin him first.
I swear, sometimes I think this whole nation either needs to get laid, or get a colonoscopy....talk about some uptight, anally retentive a$$holes.
the first wife couldn't wait to put the screws to him ,
I'm bored to death and that's why i read this no news story.
On my husband's account... In my first marriage, that man decided that this law did not apply to him either. He stomped out and remarried. In my attempts to seek justice in Utah, the prosecutor told me he would not waste resources in such a "victim-less" crime. It cost me thousands to clear up his messes and was held responsible for bills that he incurred since we were still married. Utah's lack of a legal separation also let him rack up additional debts while we went through the extended period that this now-complicated divorce entailed.
There is no such thing as a victim-less crime.
Hell has to fury like a ex-wife cheated on her settlement or for that matter even if she gets it all!!!
Divorce finalized? Two people I knew who were married in Michigan filed for divorce in the UP. As far as they knew they were divorced and both remarried. One day the mother of one got a call from someone with the name her daughter had before remarriage (he married a girl with the same first name again) So she sent her a text saying this person with the same name wanted her to call her.It seems the county lost the paperwork and the divorce was never processed. So both of them were guilty of bigamy and he had a new baby.
lonereb, I hope they were not actually charged, or worse -- convicted -- because the county losing the paperwork would have been a good defense, IMO. Apparently neither of them knew they should hold off on remarriage until they got a Final Decree from the Court regarding the current one. If they had attorneys, they paid waaaay too much because the attorneys didn't do their job in advising them what the procedures would be. A Final Decree is a piece of paper from the Court that says the divorce is final. Most (if not all) attorneys send that (and copies of other filed Court documents) to their clients. It's interesting that neither one of them knew, though.
A prison guard huh?
"Duh? Which way did the bad guy go?"
He's a lazy as he is stupid.
Karma bites you in the but hard. Even if he wasn't aware the divorce didn't go through, and it was some clerical mistake, which I doubt, it's still his fault he didn't cross all his t's and dot all his i's. Yes, it is his responsibility to make sure a divorc is finalized before poking on the side.
Yeah, this doesn't seem like bigamy. It seems like beaurocracy...
Why should marriage be defined as a union between a man and only one woman?
Dumba**
How did that work out for you? Hahahahahahahahahaha
At least they weren't married to the man with the same name!
At least he didn't have two husbands.
Misleading headline :( It sucks to read a boring story when you're expecting something scandalous. I was expecting to read about a guy living two lives who's wives find out about each other and are devastated.. Instead, he just failed to get "officially" divorced-- probably b/c divorce is so expensive!
No crap Kristen. I came here waiting for the punchline and nothing. Oh well, I don't know why he is arrested. Just fine him and get it over with. What a waste of time and money.
I doubt paying fines, possibly spending time in jail which hurts his job, and paying for a lawyer is any cheaper than getting a divorce.
Why are you looking for something scandalous? Come on people - are your lives so boring you have to search out chaos? How about searching for something uplifting? The reason these stories get covered is because people like you get off on reading about others' misery or stupidity.
whatiswrongwithu, why do you thing reality tv and jerry springer is so big? because we as a society enjoy watching other people suffer, go through humiliation, and create stupid dramas. Haven't you seen jersey shore? We made those dumb people famous.
Kirsten S Smith, where does one get an "UNofficial" divorce? I know several people who would go that route. LOL
I'm quite sure all involved were devastated at some tme about the separation.
Why did YOU read the story, whatiswrongwithu? Did you expect it to be an uplifiting piece of fluff about lambies and unicorns? No, you read it for the same reason everyone else did. Stop pretending you are superior - your name says it all.
It's definitely not the crime of the century. It is another tribute to the stupidity that people indulge in on Facebook.
Caring means sharing, nothing wrong with that. Not sure why it is a crime in the first place.
Totally agree, but how do you deal with PMS twice a month?
It's a crime because the elected officials made it so. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, are you, Chris?
I think I forgot to divorce a couple of mine. Oh well it's just a piece of paper.
Arizona- LOL Why bother with the marriage ceremony? Because your an old fashioned guy? LOL Thanks for the laugh anyway, I needed it with this dumb story!
Hey Buddy, think of it this way......A marriage License is still a license and a license usually has an expiration date for renewal. You not divorced.....your marriages just expired. :)
In my state he wouldn't even need the license just live with her long enough. Commonlaw state no such thing as an illigitamate kid.
AZrancher, it would seem to make things easier if it were done that way. Go in once a year, or once every two years and reup, or if things don't work out, just let it expire. Financial and child support could be decided from the contract you sign when you reup'ed the last time.
My husband and I always said that we had an 80 or ninety year lease on each other. Celebrated our 20th last summer.
Lonereb, commonlaw also states that the two people who are entering a commonlaw relationship are legally able to pursue the relationship ( ie not already commonlaw or married to someone else). My ex is living with his gf and has been for about 7 years now. We are not legally divorced because he keeps screwing up the paperwork ( at this point i think because he really doesnt want to be legally tied to her as shes pretty vindictive) and it gets kicked back for him to fix. While this keeps going on I can not file for divorce anywhere else because it is already in a court system. What this means is they get to play house, tell everyone they are married and i get to laugh because if he dies.. i am his legal wife, i get any government benefits from it and I legally can decide where to bury him and if he is on life support.. i legally can pull the plug ( he is too arrogant to even think about a power of attorny or even a simple healthcare authorization). and legally they arent commonlaw and anything they try to do using that ( ie put her on his healthcare) its fraud and he could go to jail for it. Ive warned him and pointed all of this out to him and he just couldnt care less.
Imaginary crime. He left his first five and two years later got a new one. Oh, I forgot, it is soo holy, schmoly thing. Europeans just move together and make kids and check "cohabiting" box in their tax returns, so these crimes against holy Jeebus are not even possible.
You do realize he is breaking the law right? Bigamy is illegal in the US and has been for quite some time, it has nothing to do with his religion, because no one mentioned religion except a few pinheads above, it's all about not getting divorced from the first wife before marrying the second.
I'm pretty sure that's how it's done in Europe too, living together is not the same thing as being married, you can't just leave one and get another if you're legally married.
Wow, divorce is such a pain, no wonder the living in together is so popular these days. Leave it up to the law makers to make a wonderfull thing into a pile of horse sh!t.
punisher be careful there are I think 7 commonlaw states in the US where just living together can get you married. Just leaving however cannot get you divorced.
lonereb, and in some states, unweb parents have different legal rights to the children, too. In those cases, it can be VERY difficult for the father to get custody of the children, even when the mother is obviously unsuited. We take getting a marriage license or not very lightly in the USA, simply because there are so many issued.
Only when the marriage is deemed to not be working do either party realize the ramifications of their acts, especially when it comes to inheritance, insurance, custody, etc. Therefore, if you're planning on living together, married or not, it's best to do your homework, especially if both of you are NOT sterile. Children make it complicated no matter whether it's cohabitation and leaving or marriage and divorce.
Just another reason to not get married in the first place. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
Nothing is free
RTypo - why buy the whole pig when all you want is a little sausage? :)
The milk is not free, but still cheaper than lawyers.
Agreed 100% Lisa.. My cow reference wasn't gender specific..
RTypo, your reference was gender specific, cows produce milk not bulls. Unless you are talking about milking semen
Ah ok but that wasn't my intent. How about why buy the sheep when you get the wool for free? Better? ;)
Never heard that one, but it will do. Have a good night. (Silly)
My husband "bought the cow" because I didn't give the milk for free! I respect myself more than that. It did cross my mind if ever I had kids with him, also, and then separated, it would be neater and tidier to be married first. i like neat and tidy. Of course, never had to worry about it because we're well suited.
How would it make things more "tidy"? I'm all for people who love eachother tying the knot, even same sex couples, but why exactly?
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% of marriages end in divorce. And if children are involved sombody will have to pay child support regardless of marital status unless of course the paying parent is a deadbeat.
The only real advantage to marriage (other than tradition and possibly taxes) in my view is that the partner with less wealth can legally take half the wealth of the other.
Why do I need a piece of paper or legal and binding contract to say that I love my significant other?
I don't get it. Who wants to marry a cow or a pig?
Way out west we have a lot of pigs or cows (the actual species) . It's just a colloquialism. It says a lot about either your manners or your smarts that you either a.joke about marrying pigs or cows in bad spirit or b. you don't know what the colloquialism means (look up the real big word I wrote) and are stumped.
We have a lot of female dogs where I'm from. They aren't quite as pretentious though.
Hahaha Joe, you crack me up
Oopsie!
Homer says: "D'oh!"
Facebook: Wife number 1, let me introduce you to wife number 2!
Ooops!
I agree with systembroke. Most men cant deal with one wife can you imagine two wives? Really?
Bin Laden had 3 and the reports say they weren't getting along with each other.
Should not have killed him. He was already in hell.
I can't imagine it because I'm female. But Ican't imagine two husbands. It would complicate things so to be married to two people, as this poor man found out the hard way.
"A man dosen't need more than one wife to have one wife too many!"
One wife is enough, but many mistresses now that is a whole different ball game.
I know a lot of people enjoy facebook but if you are not careful it will get you into trouble. While I don't have anything to hide myself I deleted my account last fall too much drama for me.
A Felony???? Get real...our government has too much power and justice is a joke.
Technically it is a felony, but I am inclined to agree with you. Don't these people have anything better to do? This is a waste of time and taxpayer dollars. There are real criminals out there; this one is just an idiot.
A felony is a felony. Can't just ignore one law breaker and arrest and prosecute another. It wouldn't be fair or right.
HShaver-
Why not? It happens all the time. The government is full of crooks. Congress and the executive branch break there own laws all the time. Fraudulent bankers walk away without so much as an indictment or even an investigation yet the jails are full of people convicted for petty drug possession charges.
Well, okay, so money can buy passes. But I'm just saying, I like laws. I also like what happens to most people when they break laws - - they get in trouble! If you don't want laws, look up the dark ages in a history to see what would happen if we didn't have laws. That didn't work well, right? If you want certain laws or don't want others, elect the correct person, the one that will side with you!
The original point made by I.M.Pist was that the justice system is broken. If you want laws for the sake of just having laws then you have no concept of the legal and proper rule of law and its purpose. The fact that you think that electing "the correct person" to make the laws that you want represents the correct form of a justice system suggests that you don't have a clue what you are talking about.
And this is what you call news....
This guy is just an idiot!
He is building his profile for TMZ.
It's funny, Gay marriage is becoming legal everywhere but having multiple partners is still a no no. I don't get it, at least you can still reproduce naturally with multiple partners.
Gay marriage & multiple partners aren't even in the same realm...
...but what is wrong with either of them. I am heterosexual, so I won't get married to another woman. I'm not willing to share a partner with someone else, so I won't. What do I care if someone else wants to?
HAH - no wonder he left.
What a waste of time and taxpayer dollars.
Seriously-What a hag! Eight freaking years later, and he asks wife No. 1 to keep it between them while he works it out (divorces wife No. 1, I assume), and wife No. 1 rats him out? No wonder he didn't want to go through the divorce process - Sounds like it would've been hell (and is gonna be now)
Females hold grudges FOR LIFE.
My girlfriend still b*tches constantly about a girl from junior high who did something stupid to her....in her mind.
And anyone who really knows women, knows that they are WAY MORE EVIL than a man ever thought to be.
And when they get caught red-handed committing some crime, they ALWAYS have an excuse (usually made up and a lie...Casey Anthony...)... and it usually involves blaming a man for all of their mental problems.
And, of course, the stupid judges believe the crap and let them go.
I hope the 1st wife "disappears" unexpectedly sometime down the road, with no evidence and no sign of her forever. Plant a tree on top of her.
What an evil, bitter, dried-up, aging HAG.
Well, isn't that lovely?.. Marriage isn't all that bad unless you're stupid enough to settle down so soon...
Why is this illegal? What happened to being free to marry whoever you want? If it can be same-sex, why not multiple partners?
Joe, you can have as many partners as you want, even same-sex if that's how you bat. Just don't sign the paper.
Religion screws everything up, don't they.
Jesus Freaks imposing more of their stupid and Ghost in The Clouds "virtues."
Marrying same sex and marrying multiple partners are two different things. I suppose even same sex partners would get in trouble if they married twice without divorce!
I don't think religion screwed anything up, this man broke a civil law.
Bigamy is a felony not a misdemeanor for a reason. The man in question went so far as to change his last name prior to remarrying -- from Alan Fulk to Alan O'Neill. This suggests active attempt to deceive either his second wife (likely to withhold information so that she would continue to proceed with marrying him) or his first wife (likely for financial reasons) or both women. He may have also been trying to protect any claims against his government pension (he works for the Department of Corrections -- and his commission of a felony -- even though it is not rape, murder, assault -- will have consequences at work... after all he IS a law enforcement officer as a corrections officer). Everyone thinks they are clever enough to get away with a crime. And then they get caught. Because there's always a crumb or a person or some meeting of two people with different versions of the truth who will help uncover a lie, deception, fraud or in this case bigamy. It is not merely a technicality that he didn't divorce his first wife. It is a type of fraud and there are good social/financial reasons for the government's making bigamy a crime. What if he were trying to hide a history of domestic violence and not merely protect himself financially from actually divorcing his first wife? The second wife should be upset to uncover this deception. This is not a non-event as some commenters are saying.... His co-workers won't think it's a non-event either. He won't be put in positions of trust over money after this. People who commit these types of deceptions cannot be trusted to manage funds at work. There are reasons we don't prosecute little white lies but we do prosecute deceptions at this level. You should drive with a valid driver's license. You should register to vote. You should divorce one wife before marrying another. If you don't want an ordered society and you prefer chaos, there are plenty of countries on the globe that you can move to.... but I like living in the U.S.
He probably changed his name because his skank of a 1st wife kept her married name.
He didn't want to be associated with this bitter, evil, vindictive c-nt.
Women can be so evil, MUCH more evil than men.. and, unfortunately, they usually get a slap on the wrist when they murder.
Watch "Snapped" on The Oxygen Network.
Take your good social reasons and tell it to the Mormons.
I think you need to hear these reasons more than the Mormons (which I am). We already know them. If you considered with any seriousness at all, you would realize laws are made to protect us, and impose order in this chaotic world. If everyone were allowed bigamy, or bigany, in a woman marrying two men's case, a lot of people would get hurt, monetarily, ecuminically, and socially. And there would be a lot more complications in society than there are now. Imagine trying to iron out inheritance and custody disputes.
Obama is sending a drone to take care of Fulk/O'Neill.
[Don't give girls your real name].
Who does? I was known as xxxxxxxx then I got married. Damn it.