Arizona Jury Convicts Polygamous Sect Leader on Three Child-Abuse Counts After Girls Found in Trailer

Samuel Bateman, a polygamous sect leader already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating sex involving children, was convicted Friday on three state child-abuse counts in Arizona after girls were found in an unventilated trailer he was hauling, Washington Examiner reported.

Police stopped Bateman’s vehicle in Flagstaff in August 2022 after a witness saw small fingers reaching through gaps in the trailer doors. The three girls inside were ages 11 to 14 at the time.

The enclosed trailer contained a makeshift toilet, a sofa and camping chairs. In the separate federal case, Bateman was convicted of coercing girls as young as 9 to submit to sex acts with him and other young adults and of scheming to kidnap girls from protective custody. ” Bateman previously claimed to have more than 20 “spiritual wives,” including 10 girls under age 18.

Bateman testified in his own defense in the state trial. He told jurors he would never harm the people he loves. ” He claimed he thought the girls had gotten out when the vehicle stopped and said he was “shocked as could possibly be” when police found them still inside.

The judge had barred evidence of Bateman’s federal conviction from the state trial, but Bateman, representing himself, repeatedly mentioned it, prompting the judge to strike those comments from the record. The jury deliberated about 40 minutes before convicting Bateman on all three counts. Each count carries a mandatory sentence of between four and eight years.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for August 25. Bateman, a self-proclaimed prophet, traveled between Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Nebraska building an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and his followers practiced polygamy.

The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned polygamy in 1890 and now strictly prohibits it. Bateman was a trusted follower of Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexual assault of children. A 2017 court order placed Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, under supervision, removing the church from local governments and the shared police department.