DA: Woman Wed 10 Men - 2 on Long Island - Without Divorcing

By Alfred Branch

A Manhattan woman who said “I do” to as many as 10 different men is facing criminal charges because she didn’t legally say “I don’t” anymore, and may have been married to as many as eight men at the same time, according to Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson.

The case caught the attention of the Department of Homeland Security and the Joint Terrorism Task Force because several of the grooms are from so-called “red-flagged” countries, Johnson added, and one husband was even deported back to Pakistan.

Alleged serial wedder Liana Barrientos, 39, was arraigned Friday in Bronx County Supreme Court on two first-degree felony counts of offering false instruments for filing. She stands accused of obtaining 10 marriage licences over an 11-year period, but she never divorced any of the men she married.

Specifically, Barrientos is alleged to have filed a false application for a marriage license, and the signed marriage license itself, in the spring of 2010, the time of her most recent marriage. The documents stated that it was her first and only marriage. The groom was a man named Salle Keita, whom she wed March 4, 2010, according to the indictment.

“But he was far from the only groom, as it turned out,” said Johnson in a statement. “She is believed to be currently married to four people, and at one time she was married to eight of them at the same time.”

The case was brought to the attention of Johnson’s office by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Investigation Division. The agencies indicated that seven of the men are from so-called “red-flagged” countries, which included Egypt, Turkey, Georgia, Pakistan, and Mali.

In fact, one of the ”grooms,” Barrientos’ eighth, named Rashid Rajput ”was deported to his home country of Pakistan following an investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force,” according to Johnson. Barrientos married Rajput in 2006.

Six of the marriage licenses are alleged to have been obtained in Westchester County, in Eastchester, Rye, White Plains, Yonkers, Greenburgh and Mamaroneck, according to the Daily News. One license is from Ramapo in Rockland County, and the others are from Huntington and Hempstead on Long Island and the Bronx.

According to The New York Times, the DA’s office had been tight-lipped about the motives, until today’s arraignment.

Barrientos’ first “marriage” was in 1999 in Eastchester, and her most recent was the one in 2010 in the Bronx. In 2002 alone, she “married” six times.

She pleaded not guilty at her arraignment today before Justice Steven Barrett, and she was released on her own recognizance. She is due back in court on May 18; if she is convicted, Barrientos faces up to four years in prison.

Below is the list of men she married from the DA’s office:

• Mohamed Gebril - Egypt (married November, 1999) filed for Legal Permanent Resident Status (LPR) 1/26/00 using her - divorced 4/29/02
• Ahmed Allam - Egypt (married November, 2001) filed for LPR 11/27/01 using her – divorced 11/20/04
• Habibur Rahman – Bangladeshi (married November, 2001) - Currently Married
• Davit Koridze - Georgia (married February, 2002) – Currently Married
• Duran Goktepe – Turkey (married March, 2002) filed for LPR 3/29/02 using her – divorced 1/10/07
• Aliaksandr Paharelau – Czechoslovakia (married March, 2002) – possibly divorced 7/25/05
• Vakhtang Dzneladze – Georgia (married May, 2002) filed for LPR 6/14/02 and approved using her and naturalized 11/15/06 – divorced 2/26/07
• Rashid Rajput – Pakistan (married July, 2002) filed for LPR 8/21/02 using her – put into removal proceedings after Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation regarding making threatening statements toward the US and deported in 2006 – currently married
• Kakhaber Khorbaladze – Georgia (married August, 2002) filed for LPR 8/27/02 and approved using her in 2006 – divorced 8/6/07
• Salle Keita – Mali (married March 4, 2010) no valid immigration status – currently married

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Jessica Lupo of the Bronx D.A. Arson/Auto/Economic Crime Bureau, and the arrest was made by the Detective Investigator Det. Manuel Lara of the Bronx D.A.’s Detective Investigator Squad, led by Chief Frank Chiara, as well as ICE Special Agent Joseph Grimaldi.

Click here to read the full story on the Daily News website.

Click here to read the full story on The New York Times website.

Photo 1: Liana Barrientos via Facebook. Photo 2: Barrientos mugshot from the Bronx District Attorney’s office