A retired Anne Arundel County police officer was sentenced to probation before judgment for charges of bigamy by marrying his fifth wife before a divorce from his fourth wife was final.
The record of Clarence Lee Whitlow, 44, could be expunged in several years “as long as he doesn?t do it again,” his attorney Michael Belsky said.
“There is no question that he knew what he was doing,” Assistant State?s Attorney Kathleen Evans said. “I guess he wanted to get married so badly he didn?t care if he wasn?t quite divorced.”
When Whitlow went to get his latest marriage license Sept. 7, he used the November 2001 paperwork from his third divorce from Suzanne Pugliese to prove he was free to marry his fifth wife, Evans said. Whitlow had filed for divorce from his fourth wife, Lisa Holmes, in March 2006 in Carroll County, but the couple was only separated when he married Jennifer Anne Pangborn on Sept. 8, Evans said.
His divorce was not finalized until last March and his marriage to Pangborn overlapped for about six months with his previous marriage.
During one of those months, Whitlow was still working as an Anne Arundel police officer. Whitlow retired from the Police Department in October after 20 years of service.
“It was error in judgment,” Belsky said.
Court records show Whitlow was sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation and a $100 fine, which is standard for a bigamy charge in Maryland, Evans said. The maximum penalty for bigamy is nine years in prison. Circuit Court Judge William C. Mulford II sentenced Whitlow on Friday. Bigamy charges are not common in Maryland, Evans said.
“We do see them sometimes, but they are rare,” she said. “I?ve been prosecuting for 13 years and only seen bigamy charges about five times.”
