Wedlock before lockup, criminal couple recite wedding vows in court

LANCASTER, Calif. - Partners in crime took on wedlock before lockup.

Prisoners Sarah Frakes, 23, and Robert Wilson, 35, recited wedding vows Wednesday in a courtroom ceremony officiated by Judge Steven Ogden, who put them behind bars for identity theft.

The judge allowed the couple to tie the knot just before he sentenced the groom to two years in state prison. Hours earlier, Ogden sentenced the bride to a year in County Jail.

Following wedding tradition, the bride wore something borrowed (the jailer's chains on her wrists) and something blue (her jail uniform). The groom wore an orange inmate jumpsuit.

When Ogden asked Wilson if he would take Frakes as his wife, Wilson said, ''Without a doubt.'' The groom wasn't allowed to kiss the bride.

''Just before (they got in trouble), they realized they liked each other. Then they went off with each other ... partners in crime,'' the bride's mother, Karen Simpson, said.

Inmates have been known to marry, although it was the first time Ogden had married two inmates.

''I never marry people who are going to prison, but this was one exception. I've known Wilson for 15 years,'' Ogden said, adding that he's sent Wilson to prison before. Wilson asked Ogden to preside over the wedding.

Simpson said Wilson began writing bad checks and Frakes obtained a false Department of Motor Vehicles identification to cash the checks. The couple pleaded guilty.