NEWTON FALLS Man to seek charge of bigamy in Va.

Since the marriage contract was entered into in Virginia, the charges must be filed there, officials say.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NEWTON FALLS -- A Youngstown man contends he was told he could not prosecute a woman on charges of bigamy, but court officials here say he can, just not locally.
Keith E. McLean, 30, said he went to see an attorney in Newton Falls Municipal Court about filing several charges against Dennise A. John McLean, including theft and bigamy, but was turned away.
McLean said he married Dennise in Stafford County, Va., on Oct. 6, 1995, without knowing she was still married to someone else.
At the time McLean wanted to press charges, he was living in North Bloomfield, which falls under the Newton Falls court's jurisdiction.
Pennsylvania documents
Documents from common pleas court in Butler County, Pa., list a marriage certificate issued Sept. 25, 1992, for Louis Ralph Rienzi and Dennise Angela John.
A decree of divorce for the same names was issued from the same court, dated June 4, 1996, almost eight months after McLean married her.
"I was told bigamy was not a crime," McLean said, adding he could not verify who from the Newton Falls court gave him that information.
Atty. Richard Schwartz, who serves as prosecutor for the court, said bigamy is indeed a crime, but charges must be filed where the crime took place; in this case, Stafford County, Va.
A bigamy case was prosecuted in the Newton Falls court almost two years ago.
Randy Jarvis, 40, was found guilty of bigamy in July, 2001. Tammy Jarvis filed the charges, saying she married Randy in March of that year and found out the following month he was married to a woman in California.
Schwartz said in that case, the couple were married in Trumbull County and residents of the Newton Falls area, meaning the charge could be prosecuted here.
A spokesperson from the magistrate's office in the Trumbull County Domestic Relations and Juvenile Court in Warren said that since the McLeans entered into a binding legal contract in Virginia, it must be prosecuted there.
A clerk from the Virginia State Bar Association said attorneys there are not in private practice, and therefore could not comment. Attorneys from the Stafford County Prosecutor's Office could not be reached.
The McLeans had four children from the time they married until they separated in 2001.
McLean said he filed divorce proceedings in 1998, but the two reconciled. He recently filed divorce proceedings again in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, he said.
His wife, who now lives in Adrian, Pa., about 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, could not be reached.
Wants theft charges
McLean said he is also seeking to have theft charges filed against his wife, saying she sold several cars he owned without his knowledge.
McLean said Dennise was convicted of the same thing last year in Youngstown Municipal Court.
Court records show that last November, Dennise was fined $100 and ordered to serve 90 days in jail, with 87 days suspended and three days credited, for a charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, which was amended from a forgery charge.
She is still serving one year of probation in that case.
Ohio law states property owned by one person before a marriage is considered community property afterward, meaning Dennise is also considered an owner of the McLean vehicles.
slshaulis@vindy.com