New York Woman Accused of Marrying 10 Men Without Getting Divorced to Most
Police said they caught the woman when she filed for her 10th marriage.
— -- A Bronx woman is being dubbed a "serial" bride after she married 10 husbands, apparently without divorcing some of them, according to court records obtained by ABC News.
Liana Barrientos pleaded not guilty at her arraignment Friday morning on two counts of offering a false instrument for filing after police accused her of lying on her recent 10th marriage application and license in 2010 by indicating she had never been married before. If she is convicted, she could face four years in jail, officials said.
Police said they then discovered Barrientos, 39, had nine other marriage licenses filed in the Bronx, Westchester County, Long Island and elsewhere in New York, according to court records the Bronx's District Attorney Office gave to ABC News today.
Barrientos never changed her first and last name in any of the marriages, though the spelling of her first name was written as "Lyana" and the spelling of her last name was written as “Barrientes” in her ninth marriage certificate, according to the records, which added she filed her 10th marriage license on March 4, 2010.
The New York state records revealed nine of her alleged 10 marriages happened between November 1999 and August 2002, and were listed as follows (ABC News has abbreviated the men's names):
1. Nov. 5, 1999 - Groom listed as M.G, bride listed as Liana Kristina Barrientos, filed in Eastchester.
2. Nov. 8, 2001 - Groom listed as A.A., bride listed as Liana Kristina Barrientos, filed in Rye.
3. Nov. 26, 2001 - Groom listed as H.R, bride listed as Liana Kristina Barrientos, filed in Yonkers.
4. Feb. 14, 2002 - Groom listed as D.K., bride listed as Liana Kristina Barrientos, filed in Hempstead.
5. March 1, 2002 - Groom listed as D.G., bride listed as Liana Barrientos, filed in Ramapo.
6. March 14, 2002 - Groom listed as A.P., bride listed as Liana Kristina Barrientos, filed in Huntington.
7. May 24, 2002 - Groom listed as V.D., bride listed as Liana Kristina Barrientos, filed in Greenburgh.
8. July 22, 2002 - Groom listed as R.R., bride listed as Liana K. Barrientos, filed in Mamaroneck.
9. Aug. 3, 2002 - Groom listed as K.K., bride listed as Lyana Cristina Barrientes, filed in White Plains.
The 10th husband, whom Barrientos married in 2010, had the initials S.K., the Bronx District Attorney's Office said.
Barrientos' attorney, Christopher Wright, told ABC News he had no immediate comment.
Barrientos used her personal identifying information "including Social Security number, date of birth, place of birth and mother's and father's names and location of birth," the records indicated.
"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 Bronx District Attorney's Office said in a statement after her arraignment. "The case was brought to the attention of the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Investigation Division. They indicated that seven of the men are from so-called 'red-flagged' countries, which included Egypt, Turkey, Georgia, Pakistan and Mali. In 2006, Groom No. 8 ... was deported to his home country of Pakistan following an investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force."
Former FBI agent Manny Gomez told ABC News that the case is serious.
"This is a huge breach in security," Gomez said. "Potentially, somebody in al Qaeda can come in, marry this [woman] and be in this country legally."
The Bronx District Attorney's Office told ABC News it is investigating where Barrientos' 10 "husbands" currently are and why they came to the U.S.
Later in the day, Barrientos and a relative, Tracy Barrientos, 19, were arrested after neither paid the subway fare at a station in the Bronx, New York City police said.