OLDSMAR, Fla. – A restaurant manager who lavished his new wife with expensive gifts, including breast augmentation, is single again and facing bankruptcy after discovering his supposed spouse was married to another man, MyFoxTampa reported Saturday.
John Meister said he married Kim Norris, 37, last year after a whirlwind romance. Norris, the mother of five children, told Meister she was divorced.
"I thought that had gone through," he said. "We got married then I found out she wasn't divorced."
Norris now stands accused of illegally marrying Meister. She was charged with bigamy and scheming to defraud her husband.
Meister became suspicious when his new bride refused to send in their marriage certificate and balked at living together, claiming she didn't want to move her children from their schools, MyFoxTampa reported. Detectives said Norris was living with her husband and children in Tampa.
Meister gave Norris a car, an SUV, a motorcycle, and, according to investigators, even paid for breast augmentation surgery. Investigators say he spent $160,000 on her.
"I think she got wrapped up in all this, in my generosity, and it kind of snowballed," Meister said.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox