Samuel Bateman, the self-proclaimed prophet of a polygamous offshoot sect, has been found guilty of three counts of child abuse after police discovered three young girls locked inside a cargo trailer he was driving through Arizona in August 2022. The verdict was delivered by a jury in Flagstaff on June 26 after just 40 minutes of deliberation.
Discovery of the Girls
Authorities were alerted to the unventilated trailer when witnesses saw small fingers reaching through gaps in the doors. Police stopped Bateman's vehicle in Flagstaff and found three girls, aged 11, 13, and 14 at the time, inside the trailer, which contained only a makeshift toilet, a sofa, and camping chairs. The temperature that day was high, and the trailer had no ventilation.
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."
Federal Conviction and Netflix Documentary
Bateman is already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for arranging sex with children and coercing girls as young as nine into sex acts. He was also convicted of scheming to kidnap girls from protective custody. His case was featured in the Netflix series "Trust Me: The False Prophet."
Bateman claimed to have more than 20 "spiritual wives," including 10 girls under the age of 18. Testifying in his own defense, he told jurors he would never harm the people he loves. However, during cross-examination, he acknowledged that the girls were in a hot trailer for hours with poor ventilation but downplayed the conditions, saying: "I just trusted myself as a driver. I asked God to bless me every time we hopped in that vehicle."
Trial Details and Sentencing
Bateman represented himself in the state trial. The judge barred evidence of his federal conviction, but Bateman repeatedly brought it up, leading the judge to strike his comments from the record. Each count of child abuse carries a mandatory sentence of four to eight years, with the judge having discretion to run the counts consecutively or concurrently. Bateman is due to be sentenced on August 25.
Bateman said he was "shocked as could possibly be" when he learned the girls were still inside the trailer when he was pulled over, claiming he thought they had gotten out when he stopped.
Background of the Sect
Bateman was a trusted follower of Warren Jeffs, the former leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), who is serving a life sentence in Texas for child sexual assault. Bateman built an offshoot network of the FLDS, traveling extensively between Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska. He and his followers 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 bans it.
