Polygamous sect leader gets 24 years in prison for child abuse after
girls found in trailer
[August 26, 2026]
By JACQUES BILLAUD
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.
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Polygamous sect leader Samuel Bateman, who was convicted of child
abuse, appears in Coconino County Superior Court in Flagstaff,
Ariz., for a sentencing hearing Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (Jake
Bacon/Arizona Daily Sun via AP, Pool)
“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.
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