Fake, Fake Justice of Peace
Fake Justice accused of performing fake weddings
Mar 25 2009 07:09PM CST
Sheriff's officials in Arizona say a man impersonated an elected justice of the peace and performed several weddings whose legality are now in doubt. Yavapai County Sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn says 41-year-old Allen Elfman (not pictured above) was arrested Tuesday on charges of fraud, forgery, criminal impersonation, impersonating a public servant and tampering with a public record.
D'Evelyn says a county court administrator brought the case to the attention of the county attorney's office, when one of the parties to one of the fake weddings attempted to obtain a divorce. An application for temporary alimony and child support was denied because the fake marriage was invalid. Sheriff's detectives have found at least four couples who also were (not) married by Elfman.
It isn't clear how long Elfman is accused of not marrying couples, but at least one of the fake weddings he performed dated back to late 2007. "There could be hundreds of unmarried couples out there filing false tax returns and giving birth to bastards," said a clerk at the Sheriff's office, who was not authorized to speak to reporters. "He only charged $20, which should have set off some alarms. But they just wanted to get married on the cheap." she continued.
One of the women not married by Elfman complained that she had been living in sin for more than a year and probably would go to hell. "And to think I saved myself for my husband all those years and then threw it all away on a man I am not even married to," said the angry woman. "I should have just slept with all those other men who wanted me to." she complained. Her fake husband could not be reached for comment.
D'Evelyn didn't know if Elfman had an attorney. "He'll probably impersonate an attorney and represent himself," said D'Evelyn, speaking on condition of not being quoted for this story.
No comments:
Post a Comment