ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 19, 1996 TAG: 9612190090
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-16 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: The Washington Post
AFTER 4 MONTHS of marriage, the bride is upset because her groom turned out to be a woman.
In this computer age, Margaret Anne Hunter's relationship started typically enough: an on-line encounter led to long-distance phone conversations. Then it blossomed into cross-country weekend trips and culminated with a lavish wedding ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in suburban Virginia.
The relationship could have been a chapter out of a Harlequin novel: the groom, Thorne Wesley Jameson Groves, professed to be a jet-set businessman seeking love before he died as a result of AIDS. But the romantic ending quickly turned into farce. After just four months of marriage, the bride is upset and forlorn, because her groom turned out to be a woman. Specifically, a woman named Holly Anne Groves, 26, of Bryan, Texas, who Hunter alleges deceived her by pretending to be a man and saying she had AIDS to avoid intimate relations.
Hunter, 24, who lives Fairfax County, is suing Groves for $575,000, alleging fraud and misrepresentation. She wants to be repaid for money spent on the relationship, including food, shelter, transportation, telephone calls and cable TV, according to a lawsuit filed late last month.
``Holly had such credible and detailed explanations, excuses and personal history, that as the plot of this drama was unfolding, there was nothing that gave my client or other people pause,'' said Seth Guggenheim, Hunter's attorney. ``She had a whole history - former wife, two children.''
Janis Groves, Holly Groves's mother, said her daughter would not comment when a reporter called their Texas home. As for the lawsuit, Janis Groves said, ``I'm not even going to discuss it.''
Although same-sex marriage is illegal in Virginia, Hunter has applied for an annulment to set ``to rest any questions as to her marital status,'' according to court papers.
According to the lawsuit, Groves and Hunter met on America Online in the fall of 1995. In December, Hunter agreed to visit Groves, who was living in New Mexico.
Groves and Hunter shared a hotel room for two nights, although Hunter said in the lawsuit that she never saw Groves undressed. Groves said she had AIDS and urged caution about spreading the disease, the suit said. During that visit, Groves pledged love and proposed a quick marriage, according to the suit.
Hunter made two more trips to New Mexico and agreed to get married in April ``out of compassion and love,'' the lawsuit said.
``The short time Thorne had left to live, allegedly, was what induced her to marry with speed,'' Guggenheim said.
Hunter's family hosted the wedding, and 60 friends and relatives attended - none of them from Groves' side, Guggenheim said. Retired General District Judge Robert Colby, who performed the nuptials, said he couldn't remember the ceremony.
Throughout the courtship and marriage, Groves' chest was covered with heavy bandages, which Groves said were needed because of rib injuries from a car accident, the suit said.
Hunter began to get suspicious when Groves' health didn't worsen, she didn't receive any medical bills and she never mentioned doctors. Then Groves' parents called the couple's home and asked to speak to ``Holly,'' and later sent a check made payable to ``Holly Groves.'' Groves said ``Holly'' was his twin sister, the suit said.
Later, Hunter obtained copies of Groves' birth certificate and passport, Guggenheim said.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB