Past loves warn of Northwest Romeo
Wayne Chinn is a man of many faces: The gourmet chef. The Naval Officer. The laid-back guy looking for love online. The faithful fiance. The devoted husband.
"It's just one lie after another," said Chinn's former fiance, "Michelle," who asked that her real name not be used. "He's a bad guy."
Michelle said the many faces were personas Chinn created to get what he wanted from women.
Chinn's ex-wife Cynthia Castile said she learned too late about the man behind the mask. "It makes me sick to my stomach," she said.
The real Wayne Chinn is a felon, convicted in the 1980's of setting fire to a Tenino lumber mill after he was fired as a security guard there. And he's a forger who used a stolen debit card number to buy a woman flowers. He spent time in a Washington State prison for bail jumping, and he married wife number six while still married to Castile, wife number 5.
"That's probably been the hardest thing to adjust myself back to again, is being a trusting person, because of what he did to me," Castile said.
The KOMO Problem Solvers dug into Chinn's history and learned he's had a string of marriages -- some at the same time. He married wives one and two in Centralia in the 70's. After a prison stint for the arson, Chinn married wife number three in Bellingham. Court records show while still married to his third wife, Chinn married wife number four.
Castile met Chinn on the Seattle-based cruise ship 'Spirit of Endeavor.'
"Wayne came on board and, of course, swept me off my feet and said all the right things that I needed to hear at that point in my life," she said.
While married, Castile says she spent $14,000 defending Chinn for jumping bail. And then, she says, she discovered he stole her mother's credit information. "This is documentation of a computer he bought using my mom's social security number," she said while holding the paperwork.
Finally, Castile learned there was also a wife number number 6. "It hurts," she said.
Chinn was convicted of bigamy. Three years later, sometime between wife six and seven, Michelle met Chinn in Idaho, and he proposed.
"We began to plan our lives together," Michelle said. Chinn left for a time, telling Michelle the Naval Reserve was sending him to Iraq. Then came the e-mails saying first that he was critically wounded, and then that he had colon cancer.
"I was just devastated," she said, "and so I did everything I could to support him and love him."
Michelle says she spent $65,000 paying Chinn's living expenses, making his car payments, buying computers, believing he needed help in a foreign country. But the Navy shows no record of Chinn in the Reserve or in Iraq. At that time he was actually in Seattle, marrying wife number seven.
"Everything he said to me was a lie," Michelle said.
Chinn left behind a trail of heartache, humiliation and debt.
"The reason I'm doing this isn't for retribution," Michelle said. His victims fear it's not over, because he's already posting on MySpace and in personals ads saying he's looking for a great woman.
"The reason I'm doing this is he's still out there...trolling, looking for new victims."
Chinn has already served time for his crimes and has no outstanding charges, so police have told the women there's nothing they can do to stop him because it's not illegal to lie.
"It's just one lie after another," said Chinn's former fiance, "Michelle," who asked that her real name not be used. "He's a bad guy."
Michelle said the many faces were personas Chinn created to get what he wanted from women.
Chinn's ex-wife Cynthia Castile said she learned too late about the man behind the mask. "It makes me sick to my stomach," she said.
The real Wayne Chinn is a felon, convicted in the 1980's of setting fire to a Tenino lumber mill after he was fired as a security guard there. And he's a forger who used a stolen debit card number to buy a woman flowers. He spent time in a Washington State prison for bail jumping, and he married wife number six while still married to Castile, wife number 5.
"That's probably been the hardest thing to adjust myself back to again, is being a trusting person, because of what he did to me," Castile said.
The KOMO Problem Solvers dug into Chinn's history and learned he's had a string of marriages -- some at the same time. He married wives one and two in Centralia in the 70's. After a prison stint for the arson, Chinn married wife number three in Bellingham. Court records show while still married to his third wife, Chinn married wife number four.
Castile met Chinn on the Seattle-based cruise ship 'Spirit of Endeavor.'
"Wayne came on board and, of course, swept me off my feet and said all the right things that I needed to hear at that point in my life," she said.
While married, Castile says she spent $14,000 defending Chinn for jumping bail. And then, she says, she discovered he stole her mother's credit information. "This is documentation of a computer he bought using my mom's social security number," she said while holding the paperwork.
Finally, Castile learned there was also a wife number number 6. "It hurts," she said.
Chinn was convicted of bigamy. Three years later, sometime between wife six and seven, Michelle met Chinn in Idaho, and he proposed.
"We began to plan our lives together," Michelle said. Chinn left for a time, telling Michelle the Naval Reserve was sending him to Iraq. Then came the e-mails saying first that he was critically wounded, and then that he had colon cancer.
"I was just devastated," she said, "and so I did everything I could to support him and love him."
Michelle says she spent $65,000 paying Chinn's living expenses, making his car payments, buying computers, believing he needed help in a foreign country. But the Navy shows no record of Chinn in the Reserve or in Iraq. At that time he was actually in Seattle, marrying wife number seven.
"Everything he said to me was a lie," Michelle said.
Chinn left behind a trail of heartache, humiliation and debt.
"The reason I'm doing this isn't for retribution," Michelle said. His victims fear it's not over, because he's already posting on MySpace and in personals ads saying he's looking for a great woman.
"The reason I'm doing this is he's still out there...trolling, looking for new victims."
Chinn has already served time for his crimes and has no outstanding charges, so police have told the women there's nothing they can do to stop him because it's not illegal to lie.