Bigamy: Woman Posed As Lawyer To Entice Side-Boyfriend Into 2nd Marriage

A married New Hampshire woman already serving jail time on child endangerement charges posed as her own attorney as part of a scheme to gain "leniency" from the court as well as enticing her then-boyfriend into an illegal second marriage.

Samantha Grenier, 28, was sentenced last fall to the State Prison for Women in Goffstown, New Hampshire, for her role in child abuse. Her "deplorable" apartment was referred to by the prosecution as a "hell hole" in which she had restrained her 4-year-old son to a bunkbed that smelled of human waste, the Union-Leader reported.

But Friday, Grenier was arrested by Londonberry police at the state prison she's currently incarcerated. She's now been charged with felony counts of bigamy and falsifying physical evidence as part of her charade to convince her boy friend into marriage.

At the time, police say she was legally married to James Grenier, who was also under investigation for the Quirin Street residence "hell hole" in which the couple were living with their 4-year-old boy.

In addition to disguising herself as a lawyer during court proceedings to entice a second marriage, Detective Christopher Olson of the Londonberry police said she was attempting to "gain leniency" during trial sentencing.

“Samantha created a fake email address to mimic her attorney's email address to try to convince this boyfriend that it was perfectly acceptable to marry her because it would help get her leniency in her sentencing in the child abuse case in Manchester. “(The boyfriend) thought she was divorced," Detective Olson told the Union-Leader.

She is accused of pretending to be her own legal counsel during email correspondence with her boyfriend. Grenier and the boyfriend were married through Justice of the Peace officer on April 18 at Londonberry Town Hall.

Under New Hampshire state laws on bigamy, "a marriage certificate shall be voided if an individual accused of bigamy fails to respond to a certified letter or a founded claim of bigamy has been referred to the county attorney." In many states, bigamy generally refers to the act of participating in a marriage ceremony while already married to another person.