Polygamist leader with 10 underage wives sentenced for exploiting young girls

PHOENIX (TCN) -- A judge sentenced a polygamist sect leader with 20 wives to several decades in prison for committing sex acts with underage girls and exploiting them.

The Associated Press reports Samuel Rappylee Bateman must serve 50 years for conspiracy to commit transportation of a minor for sexual activity and 50 years conspiracy to commit kidnapping. The terms will run concurrently. Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona indicted Bateman and 10 of his followers in May 2023 for tampering with an official proceeding, conspiracy to tamper with an official proceeding, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to travel across state lines to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, and other charges. He was first arrested in September 2022 on a charge of obstruction of justice when law enforcement found three girls between the ages of 11 and 14 in a trailer attached to his car.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Bateman was the "self-proclaimed leader of a polygamist sect" who "began amassing 'wives'" from several states. Ten of those wives were underage and he reportedly frequently had sex with the minors. The Associated Press reports many of the minors ran away from foster car in Arizona but were located in Washington.

Bateman was a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FDLS), which was run by Warren Jeffs, who is in prison for sexual assault. FDLS split from the Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when they banned polygamy.

The Arizona Republic reports several of Bateman’s underage victims spoke at his sentencing hearing about the trauma he caused them.

One said, "It’s not daring to feel the pain because you don’t know if you can stand it. It’s lying in your bed, and I wonder if you even matter to anyone. It’s endless therapy sessions full of tears that seem to solve nothing. It’s not daring to trust anyone because you don’t want to be hurt again. It’s a heart that’s shattered into a billion pieces that seem impossible to put back together."

Another told him, "Sam, you have no power over me. I hope you feel the pain you caused me as you sit rotting in your cell."

Judge Susan Brnovich addressed Bateman and said the harm he caused the victims "is nothing short of unmeasurable."

According to The Associated Press, Brnovich said, "You should not have the opportunity to be free and never have the opportunity to be around young women."

She continued, "You took them from their homes, from their families and made them into sex slaves. You stripped them of their innocence and childhood."

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