He’s Just a Guy Who Can’t Say No

With his current wife looking on, bigamist Guy Newton Swezey on Wednesday attributed his six marriages in eight years to a simple case of “bad luck.”

The Southeast San Diego resident pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court to one count of bigamy, a charge his lawyer says was merely a marriage license technicality. Judge Charles R. Hayes sentenced Swezey to three years of probation.

John Crawford, Swezey’s lawyer, said the charge had to do with Swezey marrying his current wife, Teri, before his last marriage had been properly annulled.

“He never lived with any of these women except one at a time,” Crawford told the court. “All of the marriages have been annulled or dissolved.”

Swezey, owner of a wholesale food company in Chula Vista, had faced three felony counts of bigamy before his plea bargain Wednesday, in which he pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor.

Local authorities began investigating Swezey earlier this year after being contacted by Mexican government officials. One of Swezey’s ex-wives, Mexican citizen Maria Luisa Pastrana, complained of having trouble entering the United States. She claimed Swezey failed to properly support her and her child. However, Swezey and his lawyer maintain that Pastrana has no claim to Swezey because the marriage has been annulled.

He admitted an attraction to Mexican women because “American women play games.” But he confessed that he found out Mexican women play games too.

“I was used,” Swezey said Wednesday. “I love to be married. I’m more efficient at my job and everything else when I’m married.”