CRESTON, B.C. — One of two Canadian men charged with polygamy had his charges amended Friday to add another wife to the list of women he has married, said British Columbia’s Ministry of Attorney General.
Winston Blackmore, 52, and James Oler, 44, are each accused of being married to more than one woman at a time. Another woman has been added to Oler’s indictment after a review by special prosecutor Terry Robertson.
“It’s not a new charge,” said provincial Ministry of Attorney General spokeswoman Linda Mueller.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
The case is the first to test Canada’s polygamy laws. Blackmore maintains the case is about religious persecution. His lawyer, Blair Suffredine, has said the defense could invoke the right to same-sex marriage in Canada.
Canada’s Parliament extended full marriage rights to same-sex couples in 2005. Blackmore and Oler lead rival polygamous factions in Bountiful, a town in southeastern British Columbia.
Blackmore is charged with marrying 19 women and Oler is now accused of marrying three women. Blackmore openly acknowledges having numerous wives and dozens of children but has said his community abhors sexual abuse of children.
Blackmore, who has an independent sect of about 400 followers in Bountiful, once ran the Canadian arm of the Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but he was ejected in 2003 by that group’s leader, Warren Jeffs.
Jeffs is in jail awaiting trial in Arizona on four counts of being an accomplice to sexual conduct with a minor.
Oler is the bishop of Bountiful’s FLDS community, which is loyal to Jeffs.
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