Woman Charged With Marrying Six Men in Immigration Scheme

The problem was she never divorced any of them. From AJC.com:

A 32-year-old woman was indicted on bigamy charges this week over accusations she wedded six men at the same time.

A Gwinnett grand jury indicted Shawnta Marie McBride of Decatur on five counts each of bigamy and false swearing for saying “I do” at the Gwinnett County courthouse. McBride was arrested Oct. 13, 2006, and released from jail the following day on $12,000 bond.

Authorities said McBride sought marriage as a way to gain American citizenship for her spouses. Four of McBride’s grooms were from Ghana, one was from Morocco and one was from London, according to Gwinnett County Probate Court records.

According to court records, McBride married her first husband, Robert K. Konaido, on Sept. 9, 2004.

Police say she never divorced him, or any of the other five spouses she married between October 2004 and June 2005.

When the charges were filed in October 2006, McBride’s case came on the heels of two other bigamy arrests in Gwinnett. The cases of the other two offenders have already been adjudicated.

Police had accused Alvin Lorenzo Murdock in September 2006 of marrying six women. Murdock pleaded guilty in October 2007 and was sentenced to six years on probation.

William Fairley was also charged in September 2006 for marrying eight women. He pleaded guilty in October 2007 and was sentenced to one year in prison followed by seven years on probation.

Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Dawn Taylor said Thursday that it took a year and a half for McBride’s case to be indicted because prosecutors had difficulty tracking down all the grooms.

“There were different addresses all over for them in our computers,” Taylor said.

Something about someone from Morocco or London having to sneak over here bothers me. Especially the guy from London.

Hopefully the authorities will find out why these people had to sneak in under false pretenses.