A man facing bigamy charges in New Hampshire may soon face similar charges here in Central Ohio.
Michael Middleton, 43, is being held at the Franklin County Jail, awaiting extradition to New Hampshire, where a grand jury recently indicted him on bigamy charges. Investigators said Middleton has wives in New Hampshire, Alabama and Georgia.
NBC4 Investigator Tom Sussi discovered that a 25-year-old, developmentally disabled woman is wife number four. A marriage license shows that Michael Middleton and Ashley Climer were married April of 2016, in Williamsburg, Kentucky.
Michael Middleton failed to show up at his arraignment last Thursday in Dover, New Hampshire. On Friday, police arrested him at his in-laws’ home in Columbus. He has an extradition hearing this Friday.
Ashley Middleton said she met Michael Middleton on Facebook March of 2016. The following month, they were married.
She told Sussi she had no idea her husband had three other wives. “It disgusts me,” she said. “It hurts me. I don’t know how he could say he loved me, and just lie to my face for three years.”
Ashley and her mother, Laura Climer, said the couple had a baby together in 2017. Last year, they said Michael Middleton forged Ashley Middleton’s signature and put the baby up for adoption in Missouri.
Sussi reached out to Michael Middleton, but he refused to be interviewed.
Ashely Middleton and her mother are in contact with police, and plan to file a complaint this week.
