Posted on 07/28/2010 9:53:22 AM PDT by Colofornian
POCATELLO (AP) - An Idaho state judge has sentenced a convicted bigamist to up to three years in prison and set a restitution hearing for late August.
Christopher Cameron was sentenced Monday by 6th District Judge Robert Naftz, who gave him credit for the nine months he has spent in jail. Cameron pleaded guilty to felony bigamy in April.
Tonya Gifford Kunz, a former Pocatello woman who was married to Cameron for five weeks before filing for an annulment in February 2009, told authorities that he lied to her about his income, assets, health and last name and left her with a huge amount of debt.
Cameron married another woman, who lives in Utah, in 2007. The Idaho State Journal reports he left her shortly before their first anniversary and she is still trying to divorce him.
The judge cited a criminal hearing going back three decades, before imposing the sentence.
"I think you're a flimflam man," Naftz said. "You take advantage of situations and people."
But Cameron's attorney, Randall Schulthies, said that while Cameron's record is extensive, he only had one felony charge against him and most of the other cases against him were either reduced or dismissed.
"This is not the crime of the century," Schulthies said.
Both women said they met Cameron on a Mormon dating website. Gifford Kunz said the sham marriage deeply affected her and her family.
"Cameron is a predator who takes advantage of single mothers," she said. "The first opportunity he has, he will do it again."
Bonnie Cameron of Ogden, Utah, said she would have liked to see Cameron get the maximum sentence of three years fixed in prison...
(Excerpt) Read more at rexburgstandardjournal.com ...
More victims of flim flam men.
I'll have to warn my cat about him!
More than a peccadillo for the fellow in Pocatello...
The lying about having other wives to the new one is certainly illegal, and I guess that qualifies it as "felony" bigamy. But here in Maine, we have many Somalis with 4 wives (at a time) and I certainly have never heard of any prosecution because of it.
In the 21st century United States of America, if 25 women want to live as wives with their "patriarch," their Persian cat(s) or other animals, or anything or anyone else, who's to stop them? Wouldn't be at all surprised if Polyandry raises its fuzzy head ... and who's to stop that? The Pope? Jay Leno? Barack Obama?
I have never heard of this!
It's spelled D-E-C-E-I-T.
Authorities are much more likely to make a case of bigamy if the second "spouse" was victimized in not knowing about the first.
Sayyyy, wasn’t Barak Obama already married when he married Stanley Ann Dunham?
You know the answer.
The Mormon guy is the wrong color. Somalis be the right color...
L.A. gangbangers have multiple wives and kids.
No arrests them. On the contrary, they get lotsa taxpayer $$ and other goodies.
Polygamy: just another crime only a white man can commit.
Really? Where is this happening and what Biblical practice?
Most of these bigamy cases are accidents or laziness in filing for a prompt divorce. This guy is a scam artist and should be punished. If all parties are cool with it, who cares?
Polygamy was standard OT practice. Read the Book. Today, it is still practiced by SOME Middle Eastern Jews, particularly those from Yemen, Iran, Iraq, and by other Jewish groups. By 1000 CE, the practice was very much on the wane among European Jewry.
Gee, I can barely live with one wife. What sort of insane person would want two wives?
Too bad we are not a Muslim nation or else he could have just said “I divorce thee” three times and move on to the next one.
Ok we wont. It was not a standard practice.
I have never heard of Jews who practice polygamy today.
No, it wasn't. Genesis 2 talked about 2-becoming-1. Jesus later said (Matthew 19) that this was taught "from the beginning.")
#1 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. (Deut. 17:17)
#2 Some of those who had more than one wife did so serially (Moses)
#3 Concubines & servant girls were never deemend as "wives" except by those who had no authority to deem them so (like Abram's wife, Sarai; and Jacob's clan)
(What part of "Not" do you have trouble interpreting?)
See post #7. Open-ended relationships vs. deceit.
Define "many". Why didn't God say "You shall have only one wife at a time."?
He did. I didn't only cite Dt. 17:17, but Gen. 2. Here's the specific verse in Gen. 2 (v. 24):
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
#1..."wife" -- not "wives"
#2...For those who think God had some sort of "polygamy formula" in the OT, they have to deal with Gen. 2:24 and Matt. 19:6 -- where both say (Jesus in Matt. 19:6) 2-become-1 flesh. Why again is that relevant? Because if you think a man becomes single "flesh" simultaneously with 2 or more women, then that means you think two "sister wives" also become "one flesh." And once you go there, on what grounds do you claim God doesn't "ordain" lesbian "marriages"?
You should. Have any idea of the % of Mormon polygamists whose 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th wives and children are on welfare? WE HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM, and the division of a father’s estate is never enough to take care of all of the wives and kids, so guess who foots the bill? There is plenty of evidence from around the world that children of polygamous marriages do not do as well financially or emotionally as those from one man-one woman families.
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