Samuel Bateman, a leader of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has been found guilty of child abuse following a 2022 incident where girls were discovered in a trailer he was driving. Bateman, aged 50, was convicted on three counts of child abuse on Friday, June 26, in Coconino County, Arizona, as reported by the Associated Press and AZFamily.
Representing himself legally, Bateman was found guilty despite his prior sentencing to 50 years in prison on federal charges. These recent charges were brought four years after police stopped him as he drove a trailer through Flagstaff, Arizona, where three girls aged 11 to 14 were found in the back, along with a makeshift toilet and seating.
Authorities were alerted to the trailer after passersby noticed fingers through the gaps in the trailer’s doors. During the trial’s first day, Bateman claimed to be a “kind and loving father” who doesn’t “even spank my children,” as noted in a video by Hidden True Crime. Acting as his own defense, Bateman told the jury he was aware the girls were in the hot trailer for hours but insisted the conditions were acceptable. “I just trusted myself as a driver,” he said, adding he asked for divine protection every journey.
Bateman also claimed he believed the girls had exited the trailer before he was stopped, expressing “shock” upon finding them still inside. In closing arguments, Prosecutor Eric Ruchensky pointed out the obvious dangers, stating, “It’s common sense that you don’t carry people in a trailer designed for cargo on a hot day with no ventilation.”
The jury announced their guilty verdict on June 26, according to the Associated Press. Bateman is to be sentenced on August 25, with the judge deciding whether the sentences for each count will be served consecutively or concurrently. Each count of child abuse carries a mandatory sentence of four to eight years in prison.
Previously, Bateman was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court to charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and transporting a minor for criminal sexual activity in 2024, as per a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona. The trials followed his 2022 arrest for allegedly accumulating ‘wives’ from his followers across several states, 10 of whom were minors, according to a Justice Department news release.
Bateman established a following in 2019, persuading his followers to hand over their minor daughters as his “spiritual wives.” The DOJ reported that by the time of his arrest, he had taken in 15 girls. Victims as young as nine were reportedly abused, with at least 10 of the girls subjected to such treatment. Prosecutors during the trials alleged that Bateman not only sexually assaulted the girls himself but also coerced them into engaging in sexual activities with other adults.
