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	Rcmp Takes Child-bride Investigation to Texas By Evan Duggan Vancouver Sun November 25, 2011 http://www.vancouversun.com/news/RCMP+takes+child+bride+investigation+Texas/5766145/story.html RCMP officers will be in Texas from Dec. 12 to 16 to gather information about underage Canadian girls believed to have been victimized by Warren Jeffs, the convicted pedophile and leader of a fundamentalist Mormon group. Sgt. Terry Jacklin of the Southeast District Major Crime Unit said the officers will meet with state lawyers and members of the Texas Rangers to discuss the connection between Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), and girls allegedly sent to him by their families in Bountiful, a polygamous community in B.C. The RCMP has been planning the trip for several months but it was delayed until authorities in Texas became available, he said, adding the timing of the trip has nothing to do with a B.C. Supreme Court decision this week upholding Canada's anti-polygamy laws. "We've been trying to get down there for months," Jacklin said. "But [Texas authorities] have been involved with prosecutions of different FLDS members." Earlier this year, RCMP contacted Texas authorities after learning of 31 child brides with connections to Bountiful. The information was based on Jeffs' dictated diaries and other records filed in advance of his Texas trial. The list was also filed as evidence in B.C. Supreme Court's constitutional reference case. In Texas, the jury found Jeffs guilty of sexually assaulting two underage girls, aged 12 and 14, whom he had taken as "spiritual brides." He was sentenced in August to life in prison plus 20 years - a total of 119 years. The RCMP received the green light for their visit by Texas authorities on Nov. 17, Jacklin said. Authorities in Texas recently wrapped up their latest prosecution of an FLDS bishop, 75-year-old Fredrick Merrill Jessop, who was found guilty this month of conducting an illegal wedding ceremony between then-50-year-old Jeffs and an underage girl. Jessop's conviction resulted in a 10-year prison sentence and $10,000 fine. "That was their last prosecution ... which basically freed them up to meet with us," Jacklin said, confirming the trip is to investigate cross-border transfers of underage girls into the U.S. Contact: eduggan@vancouversun.com
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