A polygamous sect leader already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating sex involving children was convicted Friday on state child abuse charges after girls were found in an unventilated trailer he was hauling through Arizona.
Samuel Bateman, 51, was found guilty on three counts of child abuse by a jury in Coconino County Superior Court. The verdict came after about 40 minutes of deliberation, following a trial in which Bateman represented himself.
The case began in October 2022, when someone alerted authorities after seeing small fingers reaching through gaps in the doors of a trailer being towed by Bateman’s vehicle. Police stopped Bateman as he was driving through Flagstaff and found three girls inside, ages 11, 12 and 14. The trailer was enclosed and contained only a makeshift toilet, a sofa and camping chairs, with no ventilation.
Bateman already had been convicted in federal court and sentenced to 50 years for orchestrating sex involving children. The federal case centered on Bateman coercing girls as young as nine to submit to sex acts with him and other young adults, and on a scheme to kidnap girls from protective custody — the subject of the Netflix series “Trust Me: The False Prophet.”
Bateman had claimed to have more than 20 “spiritual wives,” including 10 girls under 18. 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. MSI previously reported that those towns, long controlled by the sect under Warren Jeffs, were released from court-ordered supervision last summer after transitioning to representative local governance.
At trial, Bateman testified in his own defense, telling jurors, “I would never harm the people I love.” Under cross-examination, he acknowledged that he knew the girls were in a hot trailer for hours and that the ventilation was not good.
“I just trusted myself as a driver,” Bateman said, adding, “I ask God to bless me every time we hop in that vehicle.”
He claimed he thought the girls had gotten out when the vehicle stopped and said he was as “shocked as could possibly be” when he learned they were still inside during the traffic stop.
During closing arguments, prosecutor Eric Ruchensky told jurors: “It’s common sense that you don’t carry people in a trailer designed for cargo on a hot day with no ventilation.”
The judge had barred evidence of Bateman’s federal conviction from being introduced in the state trial. However, Bateman, who represented himself, brought up the federal case several times, leading the judge to strike the comments from the record.
Federal authorities said Bateman traveled extensively between Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Nebraska as a self-proclaimed prophet and a trusted follower of Warren Jeffs, who previously led the FLDS and is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexual assault of children.
Bateman 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.
Sentencing in the state case has not yet been scheduled. Bateman continues to serve his 50-year federal sentence.