OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — For months, Charles L. Clemens dared to have two wives in different apartments at the same suburban Kansas City complex.
Then the women found out and both — a wife of 22 years and a wife of about six months — quickly left him.
On Friday, a judge in Johnson County, Kan., sentenced Clemens, 62, to 18 months probation with a nine-month prison sentence if he fails it. He previously served 53 days in jail.
Judge James Franklin Davis also scheduled a March 22 hearing to determine how much restitution Clemens must pay for pawning his new wife’s jewelry.
Clemens previously pleaded guilty to bigamy and identity theft for using a false name and Social Security number.
Jayme Wear, 57, married Clemens last May. She said they lived happily until November 2008, when she saw him in another woman’s apartment.
The women talked and discovered that they had the same husband. Wear soon had their marriage annulled, and Clemens’ other wife filed for divorce.
Wear told the judge she did not want Clemens in prison because “I would like him to do work to pay me back.”
She wants him to pay an estimated $50,000 in restitution for her jewelry that he pawned. A prosecutor is asking for more than $76,000 in restitution; Clemens’ defense contends it should be much less.
Clemens told the judge and Wear, “I’m sorry, and I apologize to Ms. Wear for any harm and emotional disturbance my actions caused her.”
Wear also asked the judge if she could have contact with Clemens because she still has questions about what he did.
“I can’t force him to sit down and talk to you,” Davis said, but he allowed the two to have contact.
After the hearing, Clemens left the courthouse without comment.
Wear said Clemens is a former police officer and accident reconstruction expert who testifies in court cases, or did before the two felony convictions.
“I’m just too worn out to be really vindictive,” Wear said. “I did care for him.”
“Everybody lost in this — his first wife did, I did, and I really think he did, too.”
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