Victoria, Canada - Canadian authorities say they are again investigating a polygamist community over reports of child marriage.
Cpl. Annie Linteau of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told Postmedia News officers will revisit Bountiful, British Columbia, where all 800 to 1,000 residents are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
She said investigators received troubling evidence last week that eight girls, some as young as 12, were sent to the United States to marry older men.
The constitutionality of Canada's polygamy laws is being argued before the province's Supreme Court.
"Bountiful and polygamy are quite disturbing to me and I strongly support the legislation," provincial Attorney General Barry Penner has said.
Penner said he has urged the RCMP to investigate any evidence supporting criminal charges of child sexual exploitation or parents procuring their children for sex.
"I'm offended by any suggestion [that] what has been alleged to have taken place is akin to marriage. ... What this is, is a lot of middle-aged men wanting to have sex with children," he said.
Mounties investigated two Bountiful leaders in 2006 but the charges were dropped.