Polygamous sect leader gets 24 years in prison for child abuse after girls found in trailer

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PHOENIX (AP) — A polygamous sect leader already serving a 50-year federal sentence for orchestrating sex involving children was given another 24 years in prison Tuesday on separate state convictions for child abuse for hauling girls in an unventilated trailer in Arizona.

Samuel Bateman, 50, was convicted of three child abuse counts stemming from an August 2022 traffic stop in Flagstaff that led to the discovery of three girls, ages 11 to 14, in the trailer. It had a makeshift toilet, sofa and camping chairs and lacked air conditioning and seat belts. Someone tipped off authorities about the trailer after seeing small fingers reaching through gaps in the doors.

Bateman's small group was an offshoot of the polygamous sect once led by Warren Jeffs. Bateman is currently serving 50 years in federal prison for coercing girls as young as 9 to submit to sex acts with him and other adults and for scheming to kidnap girls from protective custody — the story of which is the focus of the Netflix series, “Trust Me: The False Prophet.”

Citing an “insane danger” to the girls in the trailer, among other factors, Judge Joshua Steinlage ordered Bateman to serve the state sentence after completing the 50-year federal sentence.

“I love these dear people with all my heart, and I had no intention in the entire world to harm them,” said Bateman, who represented himself in the case and didn't make a plea for leniency during his sentencing hearing.

Victims urged the judge to reject Bateman’s claims that he didn’t mean to harm anyone.

One victim who was in the trailer when Bateman was pulled over described the psychological pain she suffered. The victim, who was then 14, said Bateman took advantage of her sexually when she was 12. She said she has had to undergo therapy to recover from “things that should have never happened to me as a child.”

“He stole my childhood,” she said.

The Associated Press does not typically name alleged victims of sexual assault.

Bateman, a self-proclaimed prophet, previously claimed to have more than 20 “spiritual wives,” including 10 girls under the age of 18.

In the state case, Bateman acknowledged he knew the girls were in a hot trailer for hours and that the ventilation wasn’t good, but he downplayed the conditions.

Bateman had claimed he thought the girls had gotten out when they stopped. He said he was as “shocked as could possibly be” when he learned that they were still inside when he was pulled over.

“Today’s sentence is about accountability for the harm done to these young victims,” Coconino County Attorney Ammon Barker said in a statement. “It also ensures that Mr. Bateman will never again be in a position to harm a child.”

Federal authorities said Bateman traveled extensively between Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Nebraska as he built an offshoot network of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which historically has been based in the neighboring communities of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah.

He and his followers practiced polygamy, a legacy of the early teachings of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which abandoned the practice in 1890 and now strictly prohibits it.

Bateman was one of the trusted followers of Jeffs, who previously led the sect and is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexual assault of children.

The influence of the polygamous sect has waned significantly over time in the towns where the sect has historically been based. In 2017, a court order placed the towns under supervision, excising the church from their governments and shared police department.

The area has since transformed so quickly that the towns were released from court-ordered supervision last summer, almost two years earlier than expected. Practicing sect members are now believed to account for only a small percentage of the towns’ populations.