Polygamous sect leader gets 24-year sentence in Arizona for hauling girls in unventilated trailer

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 hauling girls through a community in northern Arizona in an unventilated trailer. 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, whose small group was an offshoot of the polygamous sect once led by Warren Jeffs, 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.

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. 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, who isn’t a lawyer yet represented himself at trial, 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.