The owner of a Blaine bed and breakfast who is facing multiple charges relating to the smuggling of people into Canada has been granted bail.
Judge Robert Hamilton’s decision regarding Robert (Bob) Joseph Boule was announced in Surrey Provincial Court Thursday morning.
It included more than a dozen conditions, including that Boule must deny 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 Canada from this property.’
He’s not allowed back into the U.S. until the sign is erected.
Boule has also been instructed to cancel his personal and business phone numbers and delete an email address associated with the business. He’s also required, as part of his conditions, to create a new business email address and provide the password to his bail officer.
Boule’s Smuggler’s Inn Bed & Breakfast is located on the U.S. side of 0 Avenue at 184 Street.
He is facing 16 counts of counselling offences relating to knowingly inducing, aiding or abetting 16 people in illegally attempting to enter Canada. He’s facing an additional 14 charges of breaching recognizance relating to a prior indictment.
READ MORE: UPDATED: Smuggler’s Inn owner charged with helping people illegally enter Canada
The offences are alleged to have occurred at between April 2016 and March 2019.
Outside court following an appearance earlier this month, Boule’s lawyer Greg Boos described his client as “a pillar of the Blaine community and all the of the economic development community of Whatcom County.”
Details heard over the course of the bail hearing cannot be published.
Bail was set at $15,000.
