A Maine man facing bigamy charges was arrested by the Franklin County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office on Friday.
Michael Middleton, 43, whose last known address was Old Orchard Beach, is being held in the Franklin County jail awaiting extradition, according to the sheriff’s office’s Facebook page.
A warrant was issued for his arrest after he missed a court date in New Hampshire on Thursday.
Middleton was indicted by a New Hampshire grand jury last month on a bigamy charge. He’s been accused of knowingly marrying a woman in New Hampshire while being married to women in Georgia and Alabama.
Middleton was scheduled to appear for an arraignment at Strafford County Superior Court in Dover, New Hampshire, on Thursday. But he never showed up, according to the court clerk’s uffice, and an arrest warrant was issued.
According to a police investigation, Middleton was already married to Katherine Lashley of Georgia and Kassandra Shipley of Alabama when he married Alicia Grant of Dover, New Hampshire, in 2013. Investigators believe that there may be even more marriages in other locations not yet discovered.
Grant and Middleton moved to South Berwick in 2014 and Middleton was arrested on a charge of domestic violence there that same year.
Grant, who now lives in Exeter, New Hampshire, told WMTW-TV that Middleton made her feel like he cared about her, but eventually scammed her out of $20,000, according to The Associated Press.
Grant had no idea Middleton had other wives when she married him, according to the AP.
The three wives eventually found out about each other, and Grant has been trying to track down Middleton for years to have their marriage annulled, the AP reported.
In New Hampshire, bigamy is a Class B felony, with a penalty of 3½ to seven years in prison. A person convicted of a Class B felony could also receive a fine of up to $4,000 and up to five years probation.
Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 780-9015 or at:
egotthelf@journaltribune.com
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