The leader of a polygamous sect already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for child sex crimes was found guilty Friday on state child abuse charges related to three young girls discovered in a trailer he was transporting through Arizona.Authorities were alerted to the trailer in August 2022 when someone noticed tiny fingers poking holes in its doors. Officers stopped Samuel Bateman’s vehicle near Flagstaff and found three girls between the ages of 11 and 14 inside an enclosed space that contained a sofa, camping chairs and a makeshift toilet.In the federal case, Bateman was convicted of conspiring to force girls as young as 9 to perform sexual acts and abducting children from state care. His crimes are the subject of a Netflix documentary series.Bateman has previously claimed to have more than 20 “spiritual wives”, including 10 minors. Testifying in his own defense, he told jurors that he would never hurt people he loved. He admitted that he was aware that the girls had spent hours in a hot trailer with poor airflow, but he downplayed the seriousness.Bateman said, “I just trusted myself as a driver.” “Every time we got into that vehicle I asked God to bless me.”He claimed that he believed the girls had left the trailer during a stop and was “as surprised as could be” to learn that they were still inside when police pulled them over.Prosecutor Eric Ruchensky told the jury: “It’s common sense that you can’t transport people in a trailer designed for cargo on a hot day with no ventilation.”Bateman acted as his own attorney in the state trial, despite the judge barring him from mentioning his federal conviction. He raised it himself repeatedly, forcing the judge to put a stop to those comments.The jury took about 40 minutes to convict Bateman on all three counts of child abuse. Each carries a mandatory sentence of four to eight years. The sentencing hearing has been scheduled for August 25.
background
Bateman, who called himself a prophet, traveled to several western states and founded a branch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a historically polygamous group based in the Arizona-Utah border towns of Colorado City and Hildale.He was a trusted follower of former cult leader Warren Jeffs, who is now serving a life sentence in Texas for child sexual abuse.The mainstream Mormon Church abandoned polygamy in 1890 and strictly prohibits it today.The hold of the polygamous sect on the border towns has become quite weak. A court order in 2017 removed the church from local governance, and the communities were freed from court oversight last summer, nearly two years ahead of schedule. Practicing sect members are now a small minority in the area.