Man caught with two wives, trying to hide them from each other, charged with bigamy

BATON ROUGE – A man has been married to two women and, it seems, attempted to hide one wife from the other according to arrest documents obtained by WBRZ.

Chaffie Brown, 50, was booked into jail on bigamy charges – a rarely seen charge tied to the crime of being married to more than one person simultaneously. Bigamy is illegal in Louisiana.

Brown's first wife, whom he married in 1993, lived in LaPlace. Brown then married another woman in Baton Rouge in 2013.

Property tax records show Brown owned a home near the Belle Terre Country Club in St. John and also listed an address at a home on Strain Road, off O'Neal in East Baton Rouge.

Deputies said Brown told his wife in LaPlace he needed a home in Baton Rouge where he was working often and for long hours.

Brown's first wife, whom he married in 1993, found vehicle insurance paperwork for a vehicle Brown and his other wife, whom he married in 2013, share together. After questioning Brown, the initial wife called sheriff's deputies.

Brown told both the first wife and sheriff's deputies that he had the later marriage annulled, but clerk of court records showed Chaffie Brown had two certificates of marriage for two different women, showing he was married to both women at the same time.

Addresses for Brown show his Baton Rouge address is valued around $150,000; His St. John the Baptist addresses is valued around $170,000. The neighborhoods are about 56 miles apart.

Brown was arrested at his home in Baton Rouge Wednesday morning. He was released on bond the same day.

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