Florida man arrested for secretly marrying three women in three counties

In a recent incident, a Florida man married three women in separate counties and kept all three of them unaware of each other. He has been arrested and faces a charge of felony bigamy for his actions. 

According to a report by ABC action news, Henry Betsey Jr. married three women in separate counties and kept them in the dark regarding his other marriages. Two of the women found out after his first wife, Tonya Betsey, discovered his two other marriages and informed the women. Tonya discovered the other marriages when she sensed that something was amiss, which led her to look up her husband’s name in the wedding registries of other counties.

“I just started county by county, putting in his name. And that's when I came up with the marriage to Michele and the marriage to Brandi,” Tonya said.

She proceeded to contact Michele, one of the other women Henry married, to inform her about his misdeeds. “She (Tonya) found me and she messaged me, and I had no idea that she was actually still married to him,” Michele said. This led to her filing a complaint with the police, leading to an investigation which caused his arrest.

Betsey Jr., 38, allegedly concocted his scheme using deception, manipulation, and speedy courtships. He allegedly used dating apps such as Tinder, Match, and Stir to lure recently divorced women into a trap; he portrayed himself as a charming and sincere man genuinely interested in a lifelong relationship. His dating profile read: "Looking for a beautiful woman who understands the ups and downs of life, is trustworthy and no games."

After contacting the women, the relationships allegedly quickly accelerated, with Betsey recommending getting married to all three within a matter of weeks, then pressuring the women into opening joint bank accounts and behaving in controlling and abusive ways.

The three women also believe that the system that handles marriage licences kept them in the dark.

“There are no safeguards, and I feel like that's part of where the system failed,” Michele Betsey said. They added that marrying Henry Betsey was easy. “You go to the Records Division, you apply for a marriage license. They take your information, they take a copy of your photo ID,” Michele said. “We got married right there at the courthouse, no questions asked. There was nothing that was flagged in the system for him having already two prior open marriage licenses.”

Brandi also stated that the authorities didn’t flag any issues during her wedding with Henry either, with the process taking little to no time.