A woman known nationally as “The Military Mistress” is now behind bars in Washington state.
Bobbi Ann Finley is accused of marrying military members in more than a dozen states, including here in Hampton Roads – and leaving them in financial ruin.
Finley’s been married 14 times and some of her victims say she pretended to be in the military herself to win them over.
That same year, NewsChannel 3 introduced you to a former sailor who says he met Bobbi Ann and became one of her victims.
“I’m guessing that the reason that she does it was because it’s fun for her, a fun way to get by in life but to leech off of others is horrible and despicable,” he says.
He says Finley ruined his naval career as well as his finances, leaving him $30,000 in debt.
He had to file for bankruptcy.
Finley was caught in New Orleans in 2010 after walking out on a bar tab.
She was then extradited to Alabama to serve time for writing bad checks there.
Following that, she said she wasn’t really a bad person.
“Because they were using me at the same time that I was using them… I thought somebody would love me,” she says.
Finley admitted to writing bad checks and maxing out credit cards. Those bad checks are what eventually caught up to her.
A woman in Washington said she befriended Finley after meeting her and said she’d let Finley stay at her house and even loaned her money.
“She told me her daughter had lost her debit card and having an out of state checking account a lot of places won't take them so I believed her and I took her checks and put them in my bank and gave her the money,” Diane Boheler said.
Boheler says the checks bounced and Finley disappeared.
Now prosecutors want her to pay the price in Washington. If convicted, she could serve one to five years in jail.
