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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Los Angeles man serving three months in Utah for bigamy was trying to get a divorce from at least one of his former wives, court records show.
Victor DeiWayne Hayes had at least two wives in California when he exchanged vows in January 2011 with a Utah woman who didn't take long to figure out she wasn't his only love interest, documents say.
Hayes started his jail term Aug. 28 at Davis County jail. He was fined $990 in 2nd District Court and ordered to pay $830 in restitution to the Layton woman, Serah Harrison, who has since obtained a divorce, court records show.
Harrison said she was just a newlywed when she began to suspect Hayes, 51, was keeping separate lives with other women.
The first sign came when Hayes announced he had to fly back to California to sell a house.
"He was acting crazy, so I thought he was covering something up," Harrison, 39, told the Standard-Examiner of Ogden. She said a little Internet research made clear Hayes had been married several times - but apparently never divorced. She notified Layton police.
That's the whole joke about me moving to Utah and 'wanting to fit in.' We're not Mormons.
–Serah Harrison
It isn't clear how many wives Hayes has. He opened - but never finalized - a divorce case with one California woman, police in Utah determined. Hayes signed a statement at his sentencing saying he had at least three wives - the women involved suspect the number is higher.
His lawyer, Ronald Fujino, and a Davis County prosecutor, Ryan Perkins, didn't return phone messages Tuesday from The Associated Press.
Harrison said she met Hayes years ago on a dating website, PlentyofFish.com. They were engaged three times before they finally tied the knot, she told the Ogden newspaper. Harrison didn't immediately return a call Tuesday from the AP.
Harrison said the man who claimed to be a professional baseball player actually was traveling to spend time with several different women and at least 11 children.
Hayes isn't a member of the Salt Lake City-based Mormon church that renounced polygamy more than a century ago. Utah makes it a felony to be married more than once at the same time.
"That's the whole joke about me moving to Utah and 'wanting to fit in,'" Harrison, formerly of California, told the Standard-Examiner. "We're not Mormons."
