Lawman Alvin Beishline Takes Plea Dea for Felony Bigamy in Saint Mary’s Circuit Court

Beishline takes plea deal;
one-year suspended sentence

A PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT request of the St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Dept. resulted in the following record revealed that Alvin Beishline declined to be interviewed and resigned his position.

UPDATE: Plea deal reached as jury trial is canceled and sentencing is set before Judge Amy Lorenzini

BY KEN ROSSIGNOL

THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY

LEONARDTOWN, MD – A St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Department Deputy was terminated in 2023 after a career spanning more than a decade, and a felony indictment of Bigamy has been leveled against the now-former deputy.  While the deputy, Alvin Beishline, of Mechanicsville, reportedly was the subject of an investigation by the Sheriff’s Department, which resulted in the allegation being unfounded, less than thirty days after his four-year-long divorce was finalized, St. Mary’s court records revealed an indictment by the Grand Jury on the charge of Bigamy.

St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney Sterling answered a request for comment, noting that she had requested an outside prosecutor, a Special Prosecutor, to avoid any conflict of interest. Sterling said she had no comment on this case.

Sterling served under former St. Mary’s States Attorney Richard Fritz for nine years, and Fritz used his prosecutorial powers for indictments for political purposes, loading up an election opponent with 120 criminal charges, all of which the opponent was found not guilty on two dozen of the charges with the balance dismissed when an independent prosecutor was finally appointed, and Fritz was forced to step aside.

The four-year-long legal quest by Beishline for divorce took place in the unprecedented Wuhan Flu Covid Pandemic when constitutional rights of assembly, religion, and freedom were illegally suspended, including acts by Sterling’s father, former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. In addition, during this period of crisis, Maryland Courts went through periods of shutdowns, limited access, and poorly functioning electronic access for court business. Governor Hogan issued a series of unconstitutional Executive Orders that closed churches and small businesses, leaving big national chains open for customers.

Calvert States Attorney Bob Harvey appointed Allison S. Walton, a Calvert County Assistant States Attorney, to act as Special Prosecutor and to shepherd the serious charges through the St. Mary’s Circuit Court Grand Jury for the alleged Bigamy, which court records state began October 3, 2020.

Bigamy is the legal state of when a person is conducting two marriages at once, while Alvin Beishline’s divorce proceeding had been lingering through the St. Mary’s County Circuit Court for over four years – a span of time longer than many marriages. One of Beishline’s attorneys faced disbarment and was suspended during the time Beishline was seeking a divorce.

Alvin William Beishline is represented in the criminal indictment by LaPlata attorney Hammad Matin, a noted criminal defense attorney and former assistant state’s attorney in Charles County, Md. A preliminary hearing was canceled when Beishline waived the right to the hearing, and a status hearing is set for October 6, 2023, before Judge Michael Stamm; a motion hearing is scheduled for October 27, 2023, before Judge Amy Lorenzini in St. Mary’s County Circuit Court and a jury trial for November 28, 2023.

Beishline was married in June of 2009, and on January 24, 2019, he initiated divorce proceedings against his wife, Rabecca Beishline, who attorney Sue Ann Armitage represented. Shawn Hrotic and Joseph Capristo are two of the attorneys listed in court records as representing Alvin Beishline at the time he filed. The couple have two children.

Court records show that on Sept. 24, 2019, Hrotic was present along with Armitage, and a divorce hearing was requested after a discussion between the parties.

Court records show that the Maryland Supreme Court suspended attorney Joseph C. Capristo following a complaint by the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission.
Law partner of Family Magistrate F. Michael Harris was indefinitely suspended for allowing a felonious employee who stole thousands to have access to client funds.
After Sean Moran took over as the attorney for Alvin Beishline, the court granted, on October 19, 2020, a continuance until December 1, 2020.

Court records show motions and discovery taking place until August 11, 2021, when a certificate regarding the Discovery of a Certificate of Marriage Record was noted in the record. 

On August 13, 2021, court records show Certificate of Supplemental Discovery Child Support Arrears.

 On August 27, 2021, a ‘Notice to Employ New Counsel’ was issued, and Willliam Fanning of LaPlata filed his appearance on the part of Alvin Beishline on August 31, 2021, and Leonardtown attorney Shane Mattingly was removed from the case.

 On August 16, 2022, Judge Stanalonis granted a motion for proceedings to proceed Remotely.

Notice to Employ New Counsel was listed on Sept. 8, 2022. On January 10, 2023, the defendant filed an Affidavit with the court to dismiss the motion of Alvin Beishline to modify child support. Finally, the Court approved a judgment of Absolute Divorce on July 31, 2023.

CRIMINAL INTENT?

With St. Mary’s State’s Attorney Jaymi Sterling having all the same information about the Chinese-imposed Wuhan Flu Pandemic and the effect it had on Maryland Court proceedings, the loss of counsel for Alvin Beishline due to his attorney, Joseph Capristo, being suspended by the Maryland Supreme Court for failing to remove a felonious employee from having access to his client’s funds, and the subsequent delays as the reader has at this point, one must ask: where is the criminal intent?

Restitution Amount: $198,000

FAMOUS CASES OF BIGAMY

MARRIED THRICE, NOT NICE

Margaret L. Savage, 32, of Baltimore County, was named as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy issued by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that covered her husband, Daniel C. Savage, at the time he drowned at Oliver Beach while the couple were boating.  The insurance company deposited the $4,000 proceeds with the Baltimore County Circuit Court for the authentication of the proper beneficiary in June of 1960.

The insurance company brought a suit before Judge Joseph Allen, claiming that Margaret Savage failed to disclose two previous marriages. Margaret Savage was convicted of Bigamy the previous year, two months after her husband died.  When Daniel Savage married Margaret, he changed his beneficiary from his mother to his wife, according to evidence in the case. The family of the deceased contended in the trial that Daniel would never have married Margaret if he had known about the prior marriages of the woman as he was a devout Catholic.  A priest and the parents of Daniel testified that Margaret told them she had not been married before the wedding to Daniel.

The case of fraud against Margaret revealed that she had married Stanley F. Bartram in 1953 in Baltimore City after already being married to Rufus Goins in Ellicott City. Margaret was found guilty of Bigamy and, given a suspended prison sentence, and released on probation, providing the basis for the insurance fraud case. According to the Baltimore Sun, there was yet another marriage of Margaret Savage that came to light, which she denied, that she was married to another man who was killed when the couple were riding a motorcycle and crashed.

Bribery of Juror in Bigamy Trial of Congressman?

The State of South Carolina didn’t believe in divorce and, after the end of Reconstruction, began to roll back much of the legislation imposed in the state legislature by the Black Republicans who dominated the state after the Civil War. The State Legislature refused to allow divorce, which caused many to live outside the law when their marriages weren’t made in Heaven.

Congressman C. C. Bowen was charged with Bigamy in a court in Washington, D.C., as the Member of Congress who lived in that city. The prosecutor was unable to obtain a conviction in the case as the Washington Star reported in 1871 that eleven jury members voted to convict the Congressman, and one held out for acquittal, setting the stage for a new trial. Judge Wylie was quoted as saying that he didn’t think the prosecution would ever be able to obtain a verdict.

“About one o’clock this afternoon, Bowen was arrested again on a charge of marrying Mrs. Pettigrew King when he had another wife living to wit, Francis Hicks King, whom he is said to have married in 1852 in Augusta, Georgia. This makes three alleged wives for Bowen that have turned up so far. The warrant was placed in the hands of Detective Clarvoe of the Metropolitan police force for service. Detective Clarvoe went to Mr. Bowen’s residence at about 2 o’clock and served the warrant. The latter expressed no surprise other than to ask when they would cease coming after him and went with the officer to the Police Court.

At the second trial of the now ex-Congressman Bowen, the jury brought in a verdict of guilty after only twenty minutes of deliberation.

BIGAMY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
 – Baltimore Sun Feb 9, 1887

George Washington, alias George Lewis, colored, was arrested on Monday by Constable Willis of Waverly on a warrant sworn out by Elizabeth Jane Washington, charging him with bigamy in marrying Sarah Coneyer while she, his first wife, was alive. George had a hearing yesterday before Justice Pindell of Waverly. He denied marrying No. II, but she produced a certificate from Rev. Hugh F. Griffin showing that he married the couple in St. Mary’s Chapel, on Doughoregan Manor, Howard County, while Washington was a slave owned by John Lee Carroll. Mrs. Washington No. 1 testified that her lord and master had a quarrel with her about three years ago, and the fuss had never been settled, but that about six months ago, he had left her and went live with No. 2, to whom he was married on November 11, 1886, under the name of George Lewis by Rev. P. G. Walker, pastor of Metropolitan A. M. E. church. Mrs. Washington No. 2 is a servant in the employ of Capt. Egerton, corner of Huntingdon and Charles Street Avenues and, weighs about 300 pounds.  She did not want George prosecuted. He worked occasionally as a coachman when he could get such a situation but was a hod-carrier by profession. He bore a tolerably good reputation and is very well known in Waverly. Justice Piadell committed him to jail in default of $1,000 security.

BIGAMY CHARGED IN GREAT MILLS
St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Department Deputy John Rhodes arrested Howard William Weaver of Hill’s Trailer Park in Great Mills, Md., on a charge of Bigamy on March 6, 1980. An investigation by the deputy revealed that Weaver was married to a woman in Ohio and a woman in Virginia simultaneously. Weaver was released on bond pending a St. Mary’s District Court appearance.