When Facebook is Too Much: Woman Discovers Shocking Secret About Estranged Husband

Facebook is great for keeping in touch with family and friends (and let's admit it, checking what the people that we went to high school with are doing, although we don't actually talk to them in real life). But when does social networking get to be information overload? One Washington woman learned some unfortunate news about her estranged husband while perusing the site–and took the information to the authorities.

One day, while on Facebook, the Washington woman received a friend suggestion from the "People You May Know" feature of the website. Indeed, the woman that Facebook suggested as a friend did have an important connection to the Washington women–they shared a husband. While browsing through this woman's pictures, the Washington woman came across pictures of her estranged husband and her new Facebook friend standing by a wedding cake. That's when the Washington woman decided to call her mother-in-law.

Court documents suggest that calling her mother-in-law was a good strategy. In less than an hour, the Washington woman's estranged husband showed up at her apartment. The Washington woman asked her husband if they were divorced, and to her shock, he said no. He begged her not to tell anyone and promised that he would correct the dual marriage situation. She didn't waste any time, however and immediately alerted the authorities.

According to the court documents, Alan L. O'Neill married the Washington woman in 2001, moved out in 2009, and remarried the woman from Facebook a year later without getting a divorce from the Washington woman. He now faces a charge of bigamy and faces up to one year in jail if found guilty. While he won't spend any time in jail awaiting his court date, he probably will be spending some time deleting his Facebook account.