WUNRN
CANADA - ROYAL CANADIAN POLICE
PREPARE TO VISIT USA FOR INVESTIGATION ON POLYGAMOUS UNDERAGE CROSS-BORDER
MARRIAGES
Members of
the polygamous community of
The Canadian Press - August 9,
2011
VANCOUVER
— The RCMP is preparing to head to Texas to look for more
than two dozen brides from Bountiful, B.C., who were allegedly sent across the
border as teens to marry older men, including a polygamous leader now facing a
life sentence for sexually assaulting two teenage girls.
The Mounties
launched a new criminal investigation into Bountiful earlier this year after a
constitutional case examining Canada's anti-polygamy law heard allegations of
cross-border marriages in the 1990s and early 2000s.
B.C. Supreme
Court heard that more than two dozen girls were sent to the United States to
marry older men, while several American girls were married to Canadians.
At least
three girls from Bountiful-- two 12-year-olds and a 13-year-old -- were taken
to the U.S. by their parents and married to leader Warren Jeffs, according to
church records presented in court.
Jeffs is the
self-proclaimed leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS, which is the same religion practised by residents
of Bountiful.
Cpl. Dan
Moskaluk of the RCMP said investigators have been working with police and other
agencies in the United States, particularly in Utah and Texas.
"We
anticipate sending investigators stateside, particularly to Texas, to make
contact with possible victims in that area," Moskaluk said in an
interview.
"We are
hopeful of receiving co-operation from the victims and witnesses. We're there
to help and protect these victims."
The church's
traditional headquarters is along the Utah-Arizona border, but in 2004 it
established a compound in Texas, which was raided by state authorities in 2008.
Bountiful is
a small commune in southeastern British Columbia, just south of Creston near
Canada-U.S. border, where about 1,000 residents follow the teachings of the
FLDS. The church is a fundamentalist offshoot of the Mormon church, which
renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
Moskaluk
said investigators haven't uncovered any evidence that cross-border marriages
are still occurring.
"The
investigative team has been in the Creston area in contact with possible
victims and witnesses," he said.
Neither of
the two victims at the heart of Jeffs' convictions were Canadian, said Texas
prosecutor Eric Nichols.
But Jeffs'
trial did hear about two Canadian girls who were 12 years old when they were added
to a group of Jeffs' brides known as the "Quorum of 12."
Nichols, who
presented evidence in the B.C. court through written affidavits, wouldn't
comment on whether he's been speaking with the RCMP, but he suggested his
office would be eager to help.
"I can't
comment on any particular matter under investigation, but any time where there
are issues of interstate or international child abuse, law-enforcement
authorities in all jurisdictions co-ordinate on those types of
investigations," said Nichols.
The RCMP has
investigated Bountiful several times during the past two decades, looking into
allegations of polygamy, sexual abuse and human trafficking, but those
investigations have never led to criminal trials or convictions.
The
community's two leaders, Winston Blackmore and James Oler, were each charged in
2009 with practising polygamy. Those charges were later thrown out over how the
government chose its prosecutors.
That
prompted the provincial government to ask the B.C. Supreme Court to decide
whether Canada's prohibition on multiple marriage is constitutional. Hearings
wrapped up in April and a decision is expected in the coming months, although
the case is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Unlike previous
investigations involving Bountiful, the RCMP isn't looking into allegations of
multiple marriage, said Moskaluk.
"This
particular investigation in regards to the movement of child brides from Canada
to the U.S. is totally separate from the previous investigation of
polygamy," said Moskaluk.
Both
Blackmore and Oler were implicated in the cross-border marriages that were
outlined in the B.C. court case.
In at least
one case, Blackmore was listed in court documents as the husband of a child
bride. In two others, he is alleged to have taken his own daughters across the
border to be wed.
Another
marriage involved an American girl allegedly married to Oler.