Highlights
- Samuel Bateman, 50, received 24 additional years Tuesday on three state child abuse counts in Flagstaff.
- Three girls ages 11 to 14 were found in an unventilated trailer with no seat belts during an August 2022 traffic stop.
- Bateman is already serving a 50-year federal sentence for orchestrating sex involving children.
- His group was an offshoot of the sect once led by Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas.
Samuel Bateman, a polygamous sect leader already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating sex involving children, was sentenced to 24 more years in prison Tuesday on separate state convictions for hauling girls through a community in northern Arizona in an unventilated trailer.
Bateman, 50, was convicted in June of three child abuse counts stemming from an August 2022 traffic stop in Flagstaff. Authorities found three girls, ages 11 to 14, in a trailer that had a makeshift toilet, sofa and camping chairs and lacked air conditioning and seat belts. Someone tipped off authorities after seeing small fingers reaching through gaps in the doors. Each count carried a mandatory sentence between four and eight years.
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 but represented himself at trial, claimed he thought the girls had gotten out when they stopped.
Bateman's group was an offshoot of the polygamous sect once led by Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexual assault of children. Bateman, a self-proclaimed prophet, previously claimed to have more than 20 spiritual wives, including 10 girls under the age of 18. Federal authorities said he traveled extensively between Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Nebraska building an offshoot network of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The sentencing was reported by ABC News, NBC News, and other outlets.
No further state proceedings are scheduled.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- AZ Family (3TV/CBS5) retrieved 25/08/2026 23:09
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 25/08/2026 23:09. Every claim traces to a source.
