Woman married to Kingston man suspected of bigamy

A 39-year-old woman suspected of bigamy was arrested May 24 on a warrant obtained by the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office.

The woman was taken into custody at Sea-Tac Airport by Port of Seattle Police and later booked into Kitsap County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. She is legally married to a 76-year-old Kingston man, but is also believed to be married to a 64-year-old man living in Illinois, according to mortgage documents and other legal papers obtained by KCSO deputies.

Questions arose in late 2007, when the woman’s Kingston husband contacted authorities to report several personal documents missing, including his passport, various licenses, birth certificate and last will and testament. Police found no signs of forced entry, and little movement was made on the case until earlier this month, when the Kingston man again contacted authorities, this time to report his wife was in possession of the documents the entire time they were missing. She had previously denied any knowledge of their whereabouts.

The two met in November 2003 via an “Asian Friend Finder” Web site, according to KCSO reports. They were married in Hawaii in 2004, though the woman spent little time in Kingston, as she claimed to be teaching medicine in China.

The man discovered that the number she provided him for contact while she was allegedly in China actually phones a city in Illinois. He also discovered digital tax filings by his wife and another man, living in Illinois, with whom she filed jointly as a married couple.

Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputies found similar documents, including mortgage papers and car registrations, stating she and the Illinois-based man are husband and wife.

Authorities also discovered the woman’s Canadian immigration application from 2002, in which she lists a Canadian man as her husband. She claimed to have met him on an “Asian Date Finder” Web site, and said she’d been married twice before.

The woman is considered a flight risk.

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