Man arrested for polygamy after wife finds wedding pics on Facebook

Richard Leon Barton Jr. now faces charges of polygamy after his photos of second trip down the aisle were discovered on the social networking site.

It seems Barton mistook defreinding for divorce. He just removed his first wife from his Facebook list and married another woman in Rhode Island. But unsurprisingly this was not enough.

How second marriage came to light?
When Barton's first wife, Adina Quarto, found that she couldn't access her husband's Facebook profile, she became suspicious.

Thinking that it was odd, she took to the social networking site for some stalking, and ultimately discovered photos of him and his new wife on Facebook pages of other people.

On finding out the second marriage, Quarto alerted the authorities of the second marriage.

"She wasn't necessarily looking for him to be arrested, but I can't turn a blind eye to it,” stated police Det. Denise Bentley.

"I didn't think he deserved to get away with it. I'm not a bitter person and I'm not trying to destroy the guy. If he wants to start a new life, more power to him, but he got married when he shouldn't have gotten married," said Quarto to Michigan Live.

The felony of polygamy carries imprisonment for up to 4 years in the state of Michigan, and fine of $5,000. However, Barton could face a severe punishment because of his previous criminal record.

How it all started?
Quarto told the police officials that the differences between them started few months after they married in 2004 in Rhode Island.

One day, Barton did not return home after work, leaving Quarto clueless about his whereabouts.

Finally, she found out that he had been arrested for previous offense and sent back to Michigan to serve more time in prison.

During this period, the two remained in touch through letters and phone, and even talked about getting divorce, but never acted on it.

“He told me he just wanted to ignore the situation and pretend I didn’t exist,” she added.

Possible penalty
Following the arrest, Barton was charged in Muskegon District Court Thursday.

The felony of polygamy carries imprisonment for up to 4 years in the state of Michigan, and fine of $5,000. However, Barton could face a severe punishment because of his previous criminal record.

Barton has been to jail for home invasion and uttering and publishing in 2000. Upon his release on parole in 2004, he fled to Rhode Island.

Later the same year, he was arrested for violation of his parole terms, and sent back to Michigan and put behind bars. He finally got out in 2009.