
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 7, 1995                   TAG: 9502070066
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

2 WIVES LEAD TO $1,000 FINE

Johnnie Shellman Dent Jr. thought he had an answer for everything. With two names and two excuses to explain away his long absences from home, he pulled off two marriages. But when police arrested him for bigamy in September, there was little he could say.

Dent, also known as Johnnie Shellman Dant Jr., pleaded guilty Monday in Salem Circuit Court, five months after his new bride turned him in to police.

According to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Edward Lautenschlager, Lou Ellen Guess phoned authorities Sept.23, after she received an unsigned letter that said her new husband had another wife and two children in Dublin.

Guess met Dent, who told her his last name was Dant, through a personal ad in the newspaper in April, Lautenschlager said. The couple had a whirlwind courtship.

``She was swept off her feet, and she married him on Aug.9,'' Lautenschlager said.

Dent, 44, told his new bride he would be away often because he owned a Corvette dealership in Giles County. Dent also said he had to undergo weekly physical therapy sessions at the Oceana Naval Station for an injury he sustained while flying a fighter jet for the Navy, Lautenschlager said.

In reality, Dent was at home in Dublin with his other wife, Diana, whom he married in 1985. When police confronted her, Diana Dent told them she thought her husband was working overnight shifts and weekend time in Roanoke.

The scenario was all too familiar to Diana Dent, who was once in Guess' shoes.

Johnnie and Diana Dent were first wed in Michigan in 1977. Two months later, their marriage was invalidated because it was discovered that Dent had not divorced his previous wife, Lautenschlager said. The couple married again once the divorce was final.

Despite his history, Dent will serve no jail time. Judge G.O. Clemens agreed to sentence Dent according to a plea agreement that called for a three-year suspended sentence and a $1,000 fine.

Commonwealth's Attorney Fred King said he entered into the agreement, proposed by Dent's attorney, because bigamy is a nonviolent crime.

``There are no guidelines for bigamy,'' King said. ``It's physically a nonviolent crime, although emotionally it's devastating.''

While sentencing Dent, who wore no wedding ring in court, Clemens took issue with the defendant's explanation.

``I just made a mistake, and I am sorry,'' Dent told the judge.

``You didn't make a mistake. You didn't just mess up. You absolutely flouted the law and stuck your nose up at everybody,'' Clemens said. ``You had better walk the straight and narrow for the next three years.''

The state of Virginia does not require marriage license applicants to produce divorce papers, but all information on the license is given under oath. False statements can be prosecuted, although no perjury charges were filed against Dent.

Dent's marriage to Guess has been annulled.

by CNB