A Grove City man charged with marrying a woman while still married to someone else has made a preliminary plea agreement with the Mercer County District Attorney's Office.

At a preliminary hearing Monday, Shawn P. Law, 32, of 104 Woodside Drive, stipulated that the prosecution could show that a crime occurred and that he might have been involved.

District Justice Ruth French, Mercer, told Law that charges of bigamy, perjury and false swearing will be sent to Mercer County Common Pleas Court.

Assistant District Attorney Neil McEwen said Law has agreed to plead guilty in county court to false swearing, and the prosecution will drop the other charges.

The false swearing and perjury charges stem from his application for a marriage license from the Mercer County Clerk of Courts. He claimed that he had not been married before.

Law and Cathy Morrison filed for the marriage application Feb. 26, 2001, and were married March 1, 2001, before District Justice Lawrence Silvis, Worth Township, according to the Mercer County Sheriff's Department.

On Feb. 20, Ms. Morrison Law contacted the DA's office and reported that Law was married to someone else, police said.

Ms. Morrison Law said she located a telephone number for Irene Law in June 2001. Irene Law told her she was still married to Law, police said.

Law and Irene Law were married April 16, 1999. Irene Law said the couple separated one day short of their first wedding anniversary but were not divorced, police said.

Law told the police he had left Irene Law in March 2000, and that she had told him she had filed for divorce.

The couple lived in Hanover, Pa., where Irene Law still lives.

Law admitted he made no effort to look into the status of his marriage to Irene Law before filling out the application to marry Cathy Morrison, police said.

"He claimed stupidity for making false statements upon his Mercer County. Pa., marriage application," investigator Mark Yassem wrote in the affidavit attached to the criminal complaint against Law.

Law remains free on his own recognizance.