{"id":31781,"date":"2026-05-04T15:15:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T19:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=31781"},"modified":"2026-05-04T15:15:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T19:15:57","slug":"a-pastor-who-once-wrote-a-book-of-marriage-advice-is-now-accused-of-bigamy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/05\/a-pastor-who-once-wrote-a-book-of-marriage-advice-is-now-accused-of-bigamy","title":{"rendered":"A Pastor Who Once Wrote a Book of Marriage Advice is Now Accused of Bigamy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Leslie Williams \/ Facebook | Inset: Sumter County Sheriff’s Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Florida pastor who offers marriage advice is facing accusations of bigamy. 62-year-old Leslie Williams was taken into custody at the notorious The Villages retirement home on an out-of-state warrant from Georgia. The Villages is notorious as an alleged home for swingers. An Associated Press <\/em>report describes The Villages as one of the largest retirement communities in the world, with accusations of public sexual encounters and high rates of sexually transmitted diseases amongst the residents.<\/p>\n

Williams is the lead pastor of Leslie Williams Ministries, a certified Christian counselor, and the author of a 2017 book on marriage entitled Love Her Like This: Loving Her Has Never Been Deeper<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> The book challenges men \u201cto love deeper than ever before, by making plain the meaning of commitment.\u201d A cover poster for the book stated, \u201cIn a time where there is a\u00a0high divorce rate in the church, LHLT shows men [the] depth of Christ’s love for His bride as an example for every man to love his bride with the same strength, sacrifice and commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019s trouble began in December 2025 when he posted<\/a> his marriage on December 9 to a woman named \u201cCindi.\u201d While there were congratulations shared in the comments, one comment sticks out where the poster claims \u201cI thought you were already married.\u201d Previous posts of Facebook appeared to indicate that Williams had been married since at least 2018. Since the December 9 post, picture of Cindi have been removed and Williams\u2019s relationship status has been set to \u201csingle.<\/p>\n

According to officials, however, Williams was in fact already married. \u201cFlorida marriage records were obtained and confirmed that Leslie Williams was still lawfully married at the time of the subsequent marriage. Based on these records, a warrant was obtained for Leslie Williams for the charge of bigamy,\u201d the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News Digital<\/a>. According to Fox News, concerns were first raised after a complaint was filed with the\u00a0Haines City Police Department\u00a0in Florida. The case was transferred to Georgia after it was determined Williams\u2019s prior marriage was certified in that state.<\/p>\n

If convicted, bigamy is considered a felony in Georgia and carries a penalty of 1 to 10 years in prison. Williams is currently being held for extradition at the Sumter County Detention Center in Florida in accordance with the warrant stipulations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Florida pastor who offers marriage advice is facing accusations of bigamy. 62-year-old Leslie Williams was taken into custody at the notorious The Villages retirement home on an out-of-state warrant from Georgia. The Villages is notorious as an alleged home for swingers. An Associated Press report describes The Villages as one of the largest retirement…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":31784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Pastor Who Once Wrote a Book of Marriage Advice is Now Accused of Bigamy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Florida pastor and marriage author Leslie Williams faces bigamy charge after allegedly marrying while still legally married.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/05\/a-pastor-who-once-wrote-a-book-of-marriage-advice-is-now-accused-of-bigamy\" 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