A Florida man who illegally juggled secret marriages to 3 unsuspecting ladies he met on relationship apps managed to flee jail time after his deception was unearthed.
Henry Betsey Jr., 50, was sentenced to 2 years’ probation on Thursday after he pleaded “no contest” to felony bigamy in Could, ABC Motion Information reported.
Betsey married his first spouse, Tonya Betsey, in November 2020 on the Jacksonville courthouse after assembly her on Tinder.
Two years later, Betsey married Brandy, whom he met on the relationship app Stir, on Feb. 22, 2022, in Manatee County.
Months later, a 3rd girl, Michele Narens, met Betsey on the relationship web site Match.com, and tied the knot at a courthouse in Hernando County on Nov. 23, 2022, after solely realizing one another for 3 weeks, she instructed ABC Motion Information in Could.
“He mentioned all the best issues,” Brandy mentioned. “He took every certainly one of us to a county over to get married.”
For months, the wedding swindler was dwelling a triple life, married to 3 completely different ladies — every of whom was unaware of the others.
His methods wouldn’t be dropped at mild till his first spouse, Tonya, started to seek for her husband’s identify in county courtroom data and made the stunning discovery that he had marriage licenses to 2 different ladies.
“I simply began county by county, placing in his identify. And that’s once I got here up with the wedding to Michele and the wedding to Brandy,” Tonya instructed the outlet.
Tonya then discovered Michele on-line and messaged her with the startling findings.
“She discovered me and she or he messaged me, and I had no concept that she was really nonetheless married to him,” Michele mentioned.
Michele contacted legislation enforcement about Betsey’s actions, leading to his arrest for felony bigamy at his residence in Seminole County final 12 months.
The ladies consider that Betsey married them for cash. Brandy shared that on the day they obtained married, he instructed her they wanted “to make your checking account a joint checking account.”
The ladies additionally slammed the counties in Florida for not speaking successfully sufficient to stop him from getting married repeatedly.
“If the counties did discuss, it might have saved me a whole lot of heartache, some huge cash, a whole lot of stress,” Tonya instructed the outlet.
“There aren’t any safeguards, and I really feel like that’s a part of the place the system failed,” Michele mentioned.
Michele and Tonya mentioned they obtained home violence orders from judges after Betsey turned abusive and so they have been capable of escape their marriages.
Brandy instructed the outlet she kicked Henry out of her home after simply 5 days of marriage.
Whereas showing in courtroom on Thursday, Betsey apologized for marrying the ladies on the identical time.
“In the beginning, I need to apologize to the women and I need to apologize to the courtroom administration and to my household and mates that needed to be concerned on this. As a result of in the end that is one thing that I didn’t want to be a part of,” he mentioned throughout courtroom.
Michele, who was current for his sentencing, mentioned she isn’t shopping for his apology.
“Do I believe that he has any regret? Completely not,” she instructed the outlet.
Alongside along with his sentence of two years’ probation, Choose Charles B. Merritt Jr. ordered Betsey to carry out 100 hours of neighborhood service, to finish a psychological well being analysis, and to remain off social media and relationship web sites.
