GRAFTON, W.Va. (WBOY) — A Mannington man has been charged with a felony after deputies learned that he was already legally married to another woman when he married the woman he was living with in Taylor County.

According to a criminal complaint filed by the Taylor County Sheriff’s Department, Christopher Carpenter, 28, “cohabit[ed] as husband and wife” with a woman he married in Marion County.

On April 22, that woman “found out [Carpenter] was already married during the time of their marriage in March of 2021,” and that Carpenter “is still married to his previous wife,” deputies said.

Deputies contacted the Garrett County, Maryland, Circuit Court and learned that Carpenter had married a different woman in Maryland in March of 2018 and that Carpenter “was still legally married” to that woman “at the time of his previous marriage,” according to the complaint.

The court told deputies that there “was not a divorce decree or divorce proceedings filed through the court until March 18, 2024,” which was filed by Carpenter’s previous wife “on the grounds of a 6 month separation,” deputies said.

Carpenter has been charged with bigamy, which is a felony crime in West Virginia defined as a married person with a living spouse marrying another person. If convicted, the crime comes with a minimum of one year and a maximum of five years confinement in a penitentiary.

Carpenter is being held in North Central Regional Jail on $5,000 bond.

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