Sentencing set for polygamous leader convicted of abuse in Arizona after girls discovered in trailer

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A polygamous sect leader already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating sex involving children is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday on separate state convictions for hauling girls through a community in northern Arizona in an unventilated trailer.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A polygamous sect leader already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating sex involving children is scheduled to be sentenced 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.

Each count carries a mandatory sentence between four and eight years. A judge will have discretion to run the counts consecutively or concurrently.

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.

Bateman, a self-proclaimed prophet, previously claimed to have more than 20 “spiritual wives,” including 10 girls under the age of 18.