Two Bountiful polygamists arrested in Canada

Two Polygamist leaders with ties to Boundary County will appear in court on Jan. 21 in Creston, B.C., on a single charge of polygamy, according to the Royal Mountain Canadian Police.

Police on Jan. 7 arrested Winston Blackmore, 52, and James Marion Oler, 44, in Bountiful, B.C. Bountiful lies along the north Idaho border. It is a self-named community of about 1,000 people who practice the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints. Similar sister communities exist in the United States that follow these same religious practices.

Blackmore owns a settlement near Bonners Ferry, just yards away from Canada.

Since 2005, law enforcement on both sides of the border have been looking into allegations of child brides and trafficking of young girls between the two countries, police said.

According to police, the investigation focused on Blackmore and Oler, who hold positions of authority or trust within Bountiful.

The investigation into these allegations was completed in September 2006 with a report to Crown Counsel being put forward. A follow-up investigation commenced in September 2008 that resulted in additional evidence being supplied to Special Prosecutor Terrence Robertson on Nov. 25.

On Dec. 9, police received written correspondence from Robertson that one charge of polygamy was approved

against the two men.

Since their arrest, Blackmore and Oler were released from Cranbrook RCMP Detachment. Both were ordered to remain within British Columbia, surrender their passports to police, report to Creston Royal Mountain Canadian Police twice monthly and abstain from entering into or performing any celestial marriages.