Former Bountiful church leader sentenced in child bride case
Posted August 29, 2019 12:16 pm.
Last Updated August 29, 2019 1:28 pm.
CRANBROOK (NEWS 1130) – The former leader of a fundamentalist sect that practised polygamy in Bountiful has been sentenced to a year in jail, followed by 18 months of probation.
James Oler was found guilty of removing an underage girl from Canada to be married to an older member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the U.S. in 2004.
The judge has said there was no room for doubt Oler knew the girl was underage and would be subject to sexual contact when he was found guilty this past May.
He was acquitted in 2017 by a judge who was not convinced Oler did anything within Canada’s borders to arrange the girl’s transfer to the U.S. However, the B.C. Court of Appeal agreed with the Crown that proof of wrongdoing in Canada was not necessary and ordered a new trial.
In July, a special prosecutor had recommended up to two years in prison for Oler.
