Newlywed Busted On Federal Sex Offender Charge

JUNE 12--Days after celebrating his camouflage-themed wedding, an ex-convict was arrested by federal agents for allegedly failing to register as a convicted sex offender, court records show.

Jerry Wayne Dison, 36, was recently hitched to Bethany Barlow in an outdoor ceremony in Hunlock Creek, Pennsylvania. Which apparently came as a surprise to Dison’s “estranged wife,” according to a U.S. District Court “statement of facts” prepared by a federal marshal.

On June 5, Otika Dison told Alabama investigators that her husband had moved to Pennsylvania weeks earlier with Barlow, whom he planned to marry “despite not having a final decree of divorce in their marriage.”

As it turned out, Dison wed Barlow in mid-May and celebrated the nuptials with a June 1 shindig in Pennsylvania. The happy couple is pictured above (click to enlarge) with Barlow’s parents in a photo posted to Facebook. The bride’s father, Ronald Barlow, is seen holding a can of Bud Light in one hand and a shotgun with camouflage dressing in the other hand. An earlier photo shows Barlow carrying only the gun as he walked Bethany down the aisle/lawn.

Dison, who was convicted in January 2000 of the statutory rape of a 12-year-old girl, was required to report to authorities his change of residency (as well as his arrival in Pennsylvania). As a result, he was arrested yesterday afternoon at his in-laws home on a felony charge of failing to register as a sex offender.

Pictured in the adjacent mug shot, Dison was released from custody following an arraignment at the federal courthouse in Scranton. He is next due for a June 14 hearing in U.S. District Court in Mobile, Alabama, where the criminal charge was filed by prosecutors.

In post-release Facebook posts, Dison apologized to his in-laws for yesterday’s collar. “this should never have happened in ur house,” he noted. He also claimed that “Tika lied on me and had me locked up” and “Man guess I cant do nothing rite bullshit just follows me.” (3 pages)