As his court papers certify, Paul Stout, 49, has a lengthy and violent criminal history in three separate states. It includes rape, six arrests for domestic violence, violations of injunctions (or no-contact orders), violation of probation, cruelty toward a child, receiving stolen property, forgery, and threatening to commit crimes with intent to terrorize.
He was also found guilty of carrying a gun as a convicted felon, and two years ago was found guilty of possession of child pornography. He is a registered sex offender.
He was imprisoned for a little over a year and released on probation, then promptly violated his probation last November and December by having contact with a 6-year-old girl–having dinner with her, watching movies, having her help him with yard work, high-fiving her–even though his probation prohibited him from having contact with anyone under 18. He is one of the few dozen sex offenders in town who are prohibited from distributing candy at Halloween and must submit to a curfew. He served an additional four months at the county jail.
Add now another charge: bigamy.
But it’s not exactly new. He’s being charged a second time for the same offense, for which he was charged in September 2013 in Flagler. The 2013 charge was dropped that December. “The State Attorney’s office failed to prosecute him on those charges so those charges were resubmitted this year,” a sheriff’s spokesperson said today, “and the State Attorney picked up those charges and signed the warrant on December 11, which then gave our fugitive unit the opportunity to arrest him this morning.” The spokesperson said an individual may be rearrested on the same charge if the statute of limitation hasn’t elapsed.
With the exception of one document, nothing has substantially changed from 2013: According to Stout’s latest arrest report, his first wife, 43, who lives in Indianapolis, was surfing Facebook when she discovered that he was married to the woman in Palm Coast. The first wife and Stout had married in 1996. They separated in 2005 but were never divorced. When she discovered his current status, she contacted the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and sought to pursue charges. The absence of a dissolution of marriage was documented even after Stout told authorities that he had secured a marriage dissolution from Kern County, California.
When he was arrested for child pornography–he had been downloading and sharing videos and images of children in sexual situations through a file-sharing program that alerted authorities–he had been living five years at at 19 Patchogue Place in Palm Coast with the woman who would turn out to be his second wife (though she did not know it), his stepson (whom he’d be accused of attacking in a domestic violence incident), and a female friend of his wife’s. He blamed the file-sharing program on a nephew.
When detectives initially interviewed the second wife in Palm Coast in 2013, she declared herself unaware of Stout’s previous marital history and said she too wanted to pursue charges. She was interviewed again in February and submitted a certificate from Kern County documenting again that there’d never been a dissolution of the first marriage, though she also provided a dissolution document from Flagler County showing Paul had divorced his first wife here–in February 2014, ostensibly proving that he had married his second wife while still married to his first.
That last document was not part of the first investigation.
Stout since was unable to provide detectives documentation showing he had not been married to both women at the same time. (His current marital status is unclear.)
The difference this time, a sheriff’s spokesperson said, is “just a different state attorney that looked at it and decided to follow through with the charges.”
Bigamy is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Stout, who now lists his home as 1687 Papaya Street in Bunnell, was booked at the county jail this morning on $1,500 bond. He remains there for now.
Anonymous says
Sounds like the State Attorney office doens’t know if they are coming or going. It is no wonder they are so dysfunctional and suffer from high turnover. It is time we wake up and elect a State Attorney that is competent and can do the job. John Tanner did better than this……
Anonymous says
What is the difference if he is married to more than one woman when there are tons of people in this town that are married and living with someone else as common law marriage? Though Common Law marriages are not recognized there is no different with those that marry and may marry again without being divorced….besides….your vows are that you are married for life! Does it really have to be on paper to be a crime?
Concerned Citizen says
All I can say is what I continue to say. Another result of light sentencing. This guy needed to be put away for life to begin with.
It’s a shame we can’t hold judges accountable for not doing their jobs. When you or I are negligent at work we usually get fired.
Stop taking plea bargins on serious/violent crimes. Max those sentences out. Probation should only be for first time offenders with non violent charges. You screw that up off you go to serve the rest of the sentence. We give offenders way to many chances and for what?
Anonymous says
Maybe he is a Mormon.
anonymous says
Concerned citizen, I couldn’t agree more with your thoughts.
When I first began to read article I was appalled to find out he was not serving a life sentence with the long list of horrifying crimes he has committed. I mean, rape along with child pornography as well as cruelty towards a child? Who knows what could have happened to the 6 year old girl that was with him while he was violating his probation in the process? With all the sick, twisted people around here I would consider her lucky to be alive. I’m sure he’s learned his lesson with a little over a year behind bars and as long as he’s a registered sex offender we should feel safer right?. Exactly how Concerned Citizen put it, probation should be for first time offenders with non violent charges. We are giving these criminals way too much leniency.
RigidPrinciples says
You can have as many wives as you want, it just can’t be on paper. You only get the tax breaks for one of your wives (the one on paper). The government shouldn’t even be aware if someone is “married” or not. If you want to have contracts with people to let them see you when you’re sick in the hospital, or who gets your stuff when you die, you have that right to contract. All of these issues in society related to folks fighting over marriage, could be resolved by removing the Married/Single,etc. checkboxes on the tax forms. If you want your relationship to be more personally meaningful to you, your family, and friends, then go to a church and same some words and then it can mean something more to you. But the government should only be involved to uphold the contracts. This is pretty simple stuff, but it seems like folks instead just like to argue and assert their moral superiority over others.
lea marshall says
still illegal in Florida
lea marshall says
Your a male I am sure, but that is not the way it work. This a law govern by each state and Florida says no.
Really says
He should have never been free.
Brock says
He’s a bad dude. But this charge seems really based on not filling out a form and paying a lawyer to file it. They’ve been separated for more than a decade; It’s not like he’s a polygamist living with 4 wives
Anonymous says
He owes me money, never finished work on my house. Now I find this is why he has not been answering me. Awesome…