It may seem like a case of poor wedding planning for Tammy Hinton, the bride arrested at her own Michigan wedding--but it seems she's got the last laugh. Arrested brides are on the rise, not so unique. But Hinton's a special woman: Busted on identity theft, the bride makes a 'first' in getting arrested, posting bail in time to attend her own reception--then skipping out on bail, to skip town.
You know you're in a small town when law enforcement's looking for you on your wedding day -- two years after the crime. Michigan authorities thought the bride-to-be had switched out lives for Florida -- and had apparently received tips the woman would be back in town for Saturday's wedding. More than back in town, Hinton was featured -- as the bride.
The 51-year-old Port Richey resident has been wanted for two years in Michigan, the state that had issued a warrant for identity theft accusations. Cops says Tammy Lynn Hinton is responsible for racking up debts in her son's name. She didn't even make those worthy credit card debts. They were simply utility bills. There must not be a hell of lot for police to do in Jackson, Michigan -- a city of just 33,000. Cops hung out at the back of the City of Zion Ministries Church, waiting to arrest Hinton. But, as an apparent benefit of being from a small town, police officers had the decency for the bride to actually say 'I do' before making an arrest.
Those Michigan utility bills may as well have been credit card debt. It turns out they tallied up to roughly $3,000 in 2009 -- billed technically under the name of her son Wesley Knauf, who was only 17 at the time. It would appear mom and son do not share a love-love relationship: When Knauf found out about the debts billed under his name while applying for a credit card, he turned his beloved mother into law enforcement -- but only after digging through his mother's bills and finding a batch or two containing his name, says dad Joseph Knauf.
That's apparently when mom went on the run, thought to have departed for Florida not long after her son's utility bill discovery.
There was already an 'ex' before Tammy Lynn Hinton left, so the July 2011 wedding obviously wasn't her first marriage. But it may not be new bride's second marriage either: Family suspects a marriage took place in the interim, in Florida. That would make those July 16, Michigan, wedding vows number three.
It could explain why she opted for the special wedding photo this time around. The new bride only spent half an hour in the slammer before her hubby picked her up from the Michigan jail. She got a great photo opp out of the deal. If you're going to be arrested, do it right. Officers reportedly gave Tammy Hinton the opportunity to switch out that gown and veil for a change to street clothes, but she declined. Hinton got booked July 16 at the Jackson County jail in full wedding attire and again got that small-town advantage of getting to see a judge within hours, who allowed the bride to post bail quickly -- though expensively, at five grand -- and head back to the celebration.
It all makes Tammy Lynn Hinton possibly the first bride who's been arrested and actually made it back to her very own wedding reception. But cops better start looking in Florida -- for a woman preparing to get married in a year or two. It seems that $5,000 wasn't worth Hinton's freedom. She's skipped town and missed her July 18 arraignment, so cops are kind of looking for her again.
Cops may have had the first laugh, but it appears Tammy Lynn Hinton has had the last one -- until that Florida wedding. This time, officers better wait at the front of that church.