Polygamy probe draws RCMP to U.S. commune

The RCMP is preparing to send investigators to the United States as they investigate allegations that child brides from the polygamous commune of Bountiful, B.C., were sent across the border to marry older men.

The RCMP launched a new criminal investigation into Bountiful after the allegations surfaced earlier this year at a constitutional case in Vancouver examining Canada's anti-polygamy law.

The special B.C. Supreme Court hearing was told that more than two dozen girls as young as 12 were sent to the U.S. to marry older men, including polygamous leader Warren Jeffs.

Jeffs was sentenced in Texas on Tuesday  to life in prison for sexually assaulting two teen girls.

Cpl. Dan Moskaluk of the RCMP said officers are preparing to send investigators to the U.S., particularly Texas, to locate Canadian girls who were sent to be brides.

Investigators are focused on allegations that children were moved across the border to be married, and they aren't investigating the offence of polygamy, Moskaluk said.

Neither of the two victims at the heart of Jeffs's convictions were from Bountiful, but his trial heard of a so-called "quorum of 12" underage brides, which prosecutor Eric Nichols said included two Canadians.