A Houston man with a penchant for matrimony found himself on the wrong side of the law after a district court slapped him with a three-year prison sentence for marrying multiple women. Orlando Coleman, 51, was already on probation for bigamy when he tied the knot yet again, prompting prosecutors to brand him as a serial scammer exploiting his marriages for cash and accommodation, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office revealed, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.
According to court documents, Coleman was initially charged for illegally wedding a woman in another state while still being bound by the bonds of matrimony in Houston, at that time, federal prosecutors believed the conniving matrimonial enthusiast married at least 10 women across various states, deceiving them for financial gain and a place to stay he racked up quite the count before his deceitful doings caught up with him. Coleman, who had fashioned himself as a bishop who roamed the country visiting churches, used the vacuum of this holy guise to carry out his duplicitous deeds under the radar.
In a statement, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg lamented the abuses saying, "At the heart of this repeat offender's schemes was a plan to defraud women and take advantage of them for financial gain," and that "This man used the church to camouflage his scams and hide from any accountability or responsibility."
Houston law defines bigamy as a third-degree felony punishable by utter fines up to $10,000 and a potential decade behind bars, Coleman's misdeeds unraveled when his Houston spouse stumbled upon financial transactions to another wife in Virginia which led her to alert the authorities culminating in charges being leveled against Coleman. He pleaded guilty to those charges in July 2023 and was slapped with probation, however, merely just a trifling few months later, he married yet another unsuspecting woman in Kentucky, as the Houston Chronicle detailed based on court records and official statements.
Following the revelation of his latest marriage, the Harris County District Attorney's Office took swift action and filed a motion that ultimately led to the revocation of Coleman's probation and his current three-year cell block reservation. Vanessa Goussen, assistant district attorney, offered advice in the wake of the scandal, telling potential love-seekers to "Run a background check, if possible, or try searching their name on the internet, look at their social media, and ask a lot of questions," acknowledging the ease with which charlatans can enchant their victims. Requests for comment from Coleman's attorney went unanswered.
