Married, Still Looking: Man's Facebook Missteps End in Polygamy Charge

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9393861-large.jpgHere, a quick lesson in how not to use your Facebook profile: Richard Barton, Jr., was charged with polygamy last week after his estranged wife noticed that he had defriended her on Facebook and uploaded photographs of his second wedding.

Adina Quarto, who had been separated from Barton, 34, for years while he was serving time as a parole absconder, sent her husband a message using the social network's platform to let him know that their 6-year-old son had been diagnosed with autism. As the conversation continued, the couple discussed getting a divorce, but no action was ever taken. After Barton defriended his wife, who was living back in Rhode Island while he was in a Michigan prison, she poked around his profile, which he forgot to restrict access to. What she found was surprising.

There, with the rest of his shared photographs, Quarto found images of Barton getting married -- again -- at Kruse park in Muskegon, Michigan. "I put two and two together," Quarto told a reporter from the Grand Rapids Press. "They were definitely his wedding photos. I was shocked. I didn't think he would be so stupid as to get married without first getting a divorce." Quarto gave Barton months to send her official divorce papers before she reached out to police.

Barton has been charged with polygamy, a four-year felony, in Muskegon County District Court. He's on good terms with his new wife, according to the Michigan paper, even though he told her he was divorced when they decided to get married back in July. "I let love get in the way," Barton said of his predicament.

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Nicholas Jackson is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where he oversees the Health channel. A former media aggregator for Slate, he has also worked for Encyclopaedia Britannica, Texas Monthly and other publications.

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