Canadians investigating polygamist colony
 
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
 
Canadian authorities have appointed a special prosecutor to investigate possible crimes involving a polygamous colony in British Columbia.

The Criminal Justice Branch of the Ministry of Attorney General announced Wednesday it would ask a criminal lawyer to review the results of a police investigation into "allegations of potential misconduct by individuals associated with the community of Bountiful, British Columbia."

Bountiful is a colony with ties to the Fundamentalist LDS Church based in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Shortly after FLDS leader Warren Jeffs took over in 2002, there was a split among the faithful in Canada, with hundreds following ex-FLDS bishop Winston Blackmore.

Jeffs, 51, is scheduled to go on trial in September in St. George's 5th District Court for rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin. Jeffs was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list until his capture last year.

Blackmore himself has acknowledged being the subject of a Canadian police inquiry.

"Since we are not hiding we are not hard to find," he wrote in an e-mail to the Deseret Morning News last year. "It is hard to think that Canada, the home of free lovers and legalized same-sex marriages, not to mention legal wife-swapping clubs, could waste their time on people who live like we do."

In a statement, British Columbia's Ministry of Attorney General said that the special prosecutor's review would consider "any and all potential criminal or quasi-criminal charges including, but not limited to, polygamy and any other offence of a sexual nature."

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have been investigating the community for years. Allegations have surfaced of human trafficking of child brides across the U.S.-Canada border, and arranged marriages between young girls and older men. The RCMP submitted its report to Attorney General Wally Oppal last fall. After undergoing a review, Oppal decided to appoint Vancouver criminal lawyer Richard Peck to examine the case as an independent special prosecutor.

"In light of the public position the Criminal Justice Branch has taken in the past with respect to the prosecution of polygamy under the Criminal Code and in order to ensure there is no risk of real or perceived improper influence during the course of the charge assessment review ... it was appropriate to appoint an independent special prosecutor responsible for the review," the attorney general's statement said.

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Thursday, June 7, 2007
 
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