A Houston man was sentenced to prison after posing as a bishop and using the title to trick at least 10 different women into marrying him, some at the same time.
Orlando Coleman, 51, visited black churches across the country, each time introducing himself as a member of the clergy. On social networks he presented himself as the founder of several churches and as a “Pentecostal preacher.”
But prosecutors say it was all a sham and maintain that Coleman used the title to gain the trust of religious women, at least 10 of whom he married over a 20-year span.
Last week, Coleman was sentenced to three years in prison for marrying a third woman just months after being paroled for being married to two women at the same time.
Bigamy is a third-degree felony in Texas and carries a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
Orlando Coleman, 51, was sentenced to three years in prison last week for committing bigamy, a third-degree felony in Texas.
The man tricked at least 10 women into marrying him over two decades and remained married to several of them at the same time.
Coleman, who is being held in the Harris County Jail, was accused of marrying off women for financial security and moving from state to state in search of new victims.
Prosecutors say Coleman married the women for reasons of housing and financial security.
“At the heart of this repeat offender’s plans was a scheme to defraud women and take advantage of them for financial gain,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a news release.
‘This man used the church to camouflage his scams and hide from any responsibility or accountability.’
Investigators believe Coleman’s first marriage was in 2001. In the years that followed, he traveled to states such as Delaware, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and North Carolina to meet church-going women.
After introducing himself as a Protestant pastor or bishop, Coleman proposed to her. If a woman accepted, he would move in with her and allow him to cover the cost of her housing and food.
“That’s the only thing he had to offer and to validate his word – the marriage proposal – that was a big deal,” Deputy District Attorney Vanessa Goussen told the New York Times.
“That he was proposed to was a great gesture for these women, and it corroborated their appearance that he is a pious person.”
Some of the women filed for divorce after Coleman fled to another state.
Coleman visited black churches across the country and introduced himself as a Protestant pastor or bishop. He would then propose to church-going women after gaining their trust.
Coleman’s scam unraveled when he married a Houston woman in 2021. The woman discovered he was married to a Virginia woman and was still receiving payments from her.
Coleman left several Facebook profiles, each of which lists him as the founder of a different church. One page considers him “a Pentecostal preacher, known for his vast wisdom in matters of church protocol.”
His plan came to a head in 2021, when he married a woman from Houston. Five months later, the woman discovered that she was receiving funds from a woman in Virginia.
The Houston woman reached out to her on Facebook and discovered the couple had been married since 2019. They even provided her with a copy of their marriage certificate, according to court documents.
The Virginia woman told Coleman’s new wife that she and Coleman had separated in 2021 and were never officially divorced.
She explained that their separation occurred when he moved to Texas, where, unbeknownst to her, he married the other woman in Houston two weeks later.
The Texas woman contacted police and after an investigation, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office filed bigamy charges.
Coleman pleaded guilty in July 2023 in exchange for three years of probation.
He wrote a letter before his sentencing, stating that he believed he was free to marry the Texas woman because he thought the previous marriage had ended in annulment or divorce.
“If I had known that getting married was not allowed, I would have waited,” he wrote.
Coleman also claimed to have survived sexual abuse as a child. While he was growing up, he said, “he didn’t know love on any level.”
He also laid out his future plans to return to Kentucky as a pastor, “helping feed and clothe the people.”
Coleman signed with the abbreviations ‘PhD, ThD, DD’, indicating that he had the degrees Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Theology and Doctor of Divinity. There is no evidence that he had any of these.
Shortly after being sentenced to three months of probation, Coleman married a new wife in Kentucky and remained married to the Virginia woman.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg claimed Coleman used the fraudulent title to manipulate women for financial gain.
Just two months after his sentencing, while still married to the Virginia woman, Coleman married a Kentucky woman.
After learning of the remarriage, prosecutors filed a motion to revoke probation. He was sentenced on March 11.
Coleman unknowingly documented his scam on Facebook, where he left several profiles.
One lists him as “married” and “Presiding Bishop, Senior Pastor of Word Of Faith Intl.” Worship Center’ based in Delaware.
Another describes him as “Founder/Establisher of the Greater Pentecostal Cathedral Church of God in Christ” and states that he added the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Sciences.
Another page advertising ‘Bishop Orlando Coleman Ministries Inc.’ considers the 51-year-old “a Pentecostal preacher, known for his vast wisdom in matters of ecclesiastical protocol.”
Each page is completed with a badge from the different churches he supposedly founded.
In the news release, Goussen, who prosecuted Coleman, noted that his victims said he was a “con artist” who married them “for room, board and any money they gave him.”
“Unfortunately, many scammers hide behind important-sounding titles, and it’s easier than you think to get carried away,” he said.
Goussen encouraged potential victims to run background checks, search social media for clues and “ask a lot of questions.”
Coleman is currently being held in the Harris County Jail.