Runaway Bride’ Sentenced After Marrying Multiple Men and Taking More Than $280,000

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A Nevada woman prosecutors described as the “quintessential runaway bride” is headed back to jail after admitting that she took money from unsuspecting men in a scheme that stretched across several years.

Jiaying Chen, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of bigamy and one count of obtaining money under false pretenses as part of a plea agreement. Although the deal spared her from a lengthy prison sentence, a judge ordered Chen to serve additional time behind bars and repay hundreds of thousands of dollars to her victims.

At her sentencing on Oct. 6, prosecutors said Chen had married five men in a single year and disappeared after obtaining tens of thousands of dollars from some of them. Nine alleged victims are seeking restitution, with individual losses ranging from $8,142 to $80,920.

A Pattern of Marriages and Vanishing Acts

According to prosecutors, Chen’s pattern was far larger than a single failed marriage.

Between 2019 and 2024, she applied for 14 marriage licenses in Clark County, Nevada. Seven of those applications ultimately resulted in marriage certificates being issued.

Prosecutors said the men who became involved with Chen believed they were entering relationships and building a future together. Instead, investigators say some of them were left trying to recover significant amounts of money after Chen disappeared.

“A wedding is supposed to bring families together to share a future,” prosecutors said during sentencing. Instead, they argued, Chen’s marriages brought the victims together in a courtroom.

One victim who addressed the judge said he had trusted Chen and believed what she told him.

“Everything she does is false, and I trusted her. I believed her,” the man said in court, according to Court TV.

Prosecutors said the man even traveled to China five times while attempting to track down money he had lost.

Victims Seeking More Than $280,000

The financial impact of the alleged scheme became clear during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors told the court that nine victims were seeking restitution, with the combined amount ultimately ordered by the judge reaching $280,062.86.

For some victims, the financial losses were only part of the damage. Prosecutors described people who believed they were in genuine relationships and trusted Chen with their money, only to discover what authorities say was a repeated pattern of deception.

The court’s restitution order means Chen will have a substantial financial obligation waiting for her after she leaves jail.

Defense Blames Gambling Addiction

Chen’s defense attorney did not dispute the guilty pleas but offered an explanation for her conduct, telling the judge that her actions were connected to a gambling addiction.

Her attorney argued that Chen should not serve additional jail time because she needed to be free to work and begin paying the money back to the victims.

Under the plea agreement, Chen faced an eight-to-20-year suspended sentence. Her attorney asked the judge to allow her to begin rebuilding her life and earning income for restitution.

Chen reportedly already has a potential job waiting for her in Florida, where she plans to work as a waitress at a friend’s sushi restaurant.

But the judge expressed serious doubts that simply allowing Chen to move on would prevent the behavior from happening again.

Judge Warns the Pattern Could Continue

Judge Crystal Eller made clear that she was not convinced the underlying problem had been solved.

As she prepared to impose the sentence, Eller warned that without addressing Chen’s gambling addiction, there was a significant risk of repeat behavior.

The judge ultimately ordered Chen to return to the Clark County Detention Center for another eight months.

Because she had already spent approximately four months in custody, the additional sentence means Chen will serve about one year in jail in total.

After her release, she will remain on probation for two years. She has been granted permission to move to Florida, where she intends to work. Her probation will include gambling-related treatment and attendance at Gamblers Anonymous meetings.

Prosecutors Wanted Her to Stay in the U.S.

There was another unusual element to the sentencing.

Prosecutors asked the judge to impose probation rather than sending Chen directly to prison partly because of concerns surrounding her immigration status.

Although Chen is a lawful permanent resident of the United States, prosecutors said they could not guarantee that she would remain in the country if she were sentenced directly to prison because of the current deportation environment.

They argued that keeping her under probation supervision in the United States would give the victims a better opportunity to pursue their restitution claims.

That request ultimately became part of the sentence, allowing Chen to move to Florida after completing her jail term.

A New Start — With a Large Debt

Chen’s case now enters a different phase.

Once released, she will have to comply with probation, attend addiction counseling and gambling-recovery meetings, and work toward repaying more than $280,000 to the people prosecutors say were deceived by her.

For the victims, the financial judgment may provide a path toward recovering at least some of what they lost. But the emotional consequences of trusting someone who prosecutors say repeatedly used marriage and relationships to obtain money may be far more difficult to repair.

The case also leaves behind a striking record: 14 marriage-license applications in five years, seven marriage certificates, multiple alleged victims and hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution.

For now, the woman prosecutors labeled the “runaway bride” will spend the next months behind bars before beginning two years of probation — with a court order requiring her to confront both the financial damage and the addiction that her defense says fueled it.

Source: Court TV; KSNV; Law&Crime