A Coconino County judge sentenced a former leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints to 24 years in prison today, Aug. 25, after he was convicted on three counts of child abuse.
Samuel Bateman was already sentenced to 50 years in federal prison in 2024 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to transport a minor for criminal sexual activity and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. This case is separate from the federal prosecution.
According to the Coconino County Attorney’s Office, the 24-year state sentence will run consecutively to the federal sentence. Bateman will not begin serving it until the federal sentence is complete.
The Coconino County case arose from an August 2022 traffic stop in Flagstaff. Law enforcement discovered the girls, ages 11 to 14, inside an enclosed, unventilated cargo trailer Bateman was towing through Arizona. A Coconino County jury later found Bateman guilty on all three counts.
“Today’s sentence is about accountability for the harm done to these young victims,” Coconino County Attorney Ammon Barker said in a press release. It also ensures that Mr. Bateman will never again be in a position to harm a child. Protecting children from abuse is some of the most important work we do, and we will continue to do everything we can to hold accountable those who prey on the most vulnerable.”
Bateman led a polygamous splinter group of FLDS in the neighboring communities of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. He described himself as a prophet and successor to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas for child sexual assault.
The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints prohibits polygamy and formally rejected the practice in 1890.
Bateman is the subject of a Netflix documentary that released this year titled “Trust Me: The False Prophet.”
