Polygamous religious leader Samuel Bateman is facing sentencing in the US for a number of sexual abuse charges involving children, including 10 underage girls.
Bateman, 48, who claims he has more than 20 spiritual “wives”, is due to be sentenced Monday, where he could face decades in prison for coercing girls as young as 9-years-old to submit to criminal sex acts with himself and other adults.
He has pleaded guilty to a years-long scheme to transport girls across state lines for his sex crimes. Bateman also later kidnapped some of the girls from protective custody, and his plea agreement called for 20 to 50 years in prison. However, each conviction carries a possible life sentence.
Bateman was arrested in August 2022 by state police while driving through Flagstaff, Arizona pulling a trailer. His arrest happened after a witness saw small fingers reaching through the slits of the door and alerted authorities. Inside the unventilated trailer authorities found three girls aged between 11 and 14 years, plus a makeshift toilet, a sofa, and camping chairs.
Before sentencing, a federal judge will hear from a doctor who evaluated Bateman’s competency. The judge will then determine whether Bateman’s sentencing goes forward, or if he is remanded to state custody for psychiatric treatment until he’s deemed mentally fit to assist in his defense, according to attorney Brian Russo.
Seven of Bateman’s adult “wives” have been convicted of crimes related to coercing children into sexual activity or impeding the investigation into Bateman. In court records, lawyers for some of these “wives” painted a bleak picture of their clients’ upbringings, saying they were given to Bateman like property, and raised and manipulated in a religious cult that taught sexual activity with children was acceptable.
Two Colorado City brothers also face 10 years to life for assisting Bateman’s criminal activity.
Federal prosecutors said Bateman’s plea agreement was contingent on all of his co-defendants also pleading guilty. It also called for restitution of as much as $1 million per victim, and for all assets to be immediately forfeited.
Authorities have said Bateman tried to start an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
The fundamentalist group is known for splitting from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after Mormons officially abandoned polygamy in 1890.
It’s the same group that was once led by Warren Jeffs, a man convicted in 2011 of sexually assaulting underage followers. Bateman was previously one of Jeffs followers, and like Jeffs, Bateman labeled himself a “prophet”.
Bateman’s plea agreement states that in 2019 and 2020, he took women and children from his male followers and proclaimed them to be his “wives”, insisting that polygamy would bring exaltation in heaven. None of the marriages were legally or ceremonially recognised.
Federal agents said Bateman also imposed punishments on his followers for their “sins” that ranged from public shaming to sexual activity, including forcing male followers to give away their wives.
Bateman’s group was based in the neighbouring communities of Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah. He used to travel around the surrounding areas to regularly coerce underage girls into his criminal sexual activity, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Arizona.
After being arrested and posting bond, Bateman was soon arrested again, due to being accused of obstructing justice in a federal investigation into whether children were being transported across state lines for his sex crimes.
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