'I Know There Are Multiple Wives, I Know of at Least 4'

Alleged bigamist Michael Middleton is arrested
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 13, 2019 8:37 AM CST

At least in Big Love Bill Henrickson had all his wives in the same neighborhood. Michael Middleton of Maine, who was arrested for bigamy in Ohio last week, seemed to like to spread his spouses out over several states, with an indictment accusing him of having, at minimum, a wife in Alabama, one in Georgia, and one in New Hampshire, ABC News reports. The "Cupid of Chaos," as the Franklin County Sheriff's Office has dubbed him, is said to have married Alicia Grant in Dover, NH, in 2013—but he was still allegedly wed to Alabama's Kassandra Shipley, as well as to Katherine Lashley of Georgia. And there may be even more wives in the mix: An NBC4 investigation found a fourth marriage license in Kentucky between Middleton and Ashley Climer, a 25-year-old developmentally disabled woman.

"I know there are multiple wives, I know of at least four and possibly a fifth," a Franklin County Sheriff's spokesman tells NBC News. "It disgusts me," Climer tells NBC4, saying she met Middleton on Facebook. "I don't know how he could say he loved me, and just lie to my face for three years." Grant, who WMTW cites as the wife who filed the initial police report on Middleton, says he wheedled $20,000 out of her. "He makes you feel special," she says. "Then he marries you, abuses you, drains your assets, and leaves." Per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Franklin County authorities tweeted that Middleton was "tracked down" Friday. He's being held in Columbus for extradition to Maine, where he faces charges including assault, domestic violence, and driving under the influence. Grant speaks much more about their time together to Newsweek, noting she and the other wives are now all friends. (More bigamy stories.)

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