The Crown prosecutor has stayed nine of 30 charges that were laid against Smuggler’s Inn owner Robert Boule.
Public Prosecution Service of Canada media relations advisor Nathalie Houle told Peace Arch News Tuesday that the remaining 21 charges are set for trial from Jan. 13-Feb. 5 next year.
Boule, who operates an inn on the U.S. side of 0 Avenue in Blaine, Wash., was charged earlier this year with multiple indictments relating to the smuggling of people into Canada.
READ MORE: Smuggler’s Inn owner charged with helping people illegally enter Canada
He was released on bail with more than a dozen conditions, including that Boule must turn away potential customers if they give any indication of a plan to enter Canada illegally; and, he must erect an illuminated four-by-eight-foot sign 10 feet from the border of his property that states ‘Warning, it is illegal to enter this property.’
READ MORE: U.S. inn owner, charged with smuggling people into Canada,granted bail
READ MORE: Sign warning against illegal border crossings erected at Smuggler’s Inn property
Houle told PAN via email that the decision to stay nine charges against Boule was made “to obtain the earliest possible dates on the most serious charges he faces and ensure that the ‘Jordan’ deadline is met.”
The stayed charges related to incidents alleged to have occurred between 2016-2017.
aaronhinks@peacearchnews.com
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