HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — An Altoona couple looking to tie the knot was ordered to stand trial on charges they faked the man’s divorce papers so they could get married quicker.
Scott Alan Hite, 40, and Patricia Palmer, 38, not only haven’t gotten married yet, they now face a formal Blair County Court arraignment — on Valentine’s Day.
An investigation began shortly after the couple allegedly filed a document in October that purported to confirm Hite’s divorce.
Police said a clerk in the Blair County Prothonotary’s Office noticed an odd coincidence: The chief judge in Frederick County, Va., whose signature was on Hite’s divorce decree, had the same name as Blair County’s president judge — Thomas G. Peoples Jr.
That prompted Blair County Prothonotary Carol Newman to check with Virginia officials, who said that they had no record of Hite’s divorce, and that the judge there was not also named Peoples.
Because Palmer is also divorced, Blair County officials looked up her file and found that Peoples was the judge who signed her decree, police said. Court officials, and later police, determined the signature on that document exactly matched the signature on Hite’s divorce decree, authorities said.
District Justice Elizabeth Doyle on Tuesday held for trial charges of forgery and false swearing against the couple. She dismissed a charge of bigamy against Hite, because even if his first marriage is still valid, he has yet to make Palmer his second wife.
The couple’s attorney, Richard Behrens, said his clients “are not guilty of any crime. Explanations will be forthcoming.”
