Polygamous leader pleads not guilty amid FBI investigation
Associated PressPHOENIX — A polygamous leader accused of taking more than 20 wives, including underage girls, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to kidnapping and tampering with evidence charges stemming from a federal investigation into his community on the Utah-Arizona border. Sam Bateman’s case is the most recent example of law enforcement taking action against abuse in the sister cities of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, longtime strongholds of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, known by its acronym FLDS. From prison, Jeffs has denounced Bateman, said Sam Brower, an investigator who has spent years following the group, Bateman faces a raft of state and federal charges including child abuse, obstructing a federal investigation and — along with several female followers — aiding in kidnapping girls the state foster care they were placed in after his arrest earlier this year. Though federal charges to date have been limited to tampering with and destroying evidence, and aiding in kidnapping girls, court documents in Bateman and his followers’ cases outline a thorough investigation uncovering allegations that Bateman orchestrated sexual acts involving minors and gave wives as gifts to his male followers — claiming to do so on orders from the “Heavenly Father.” They said that he used public shaming and sex to punish followers — and at one point tried to take a wife his only daughter, who later left with her mother when Bateman started taking more wives.
History of this topic
Polygamous Leader With 20 'Wives' Faces Sentencing For Criminal Sex Acts With Children
Huff Post
Polygamist leader with 20 ‘wives’ faces sentencing for child sex crimes
The IndependentPolygamous sect leader gets 50 years in prison in scheme to orchestrate sex involving children
Associated Press
Members of polygamous group arraigned in court on child sex abuse charges
Associated Press
Samuel Bateman follower breaks ranks to tell how depraved prophet took advantage of him
Daily Mail
US: Imprisoned polygamous leader helped plan girls’ escape
Associated Press
Polygamous ‘prophet’ leader had child brides, documents say
Associated Press
Wife of polygamist 'Mormon prophet' arrives at court shackled to face federal kidnapping charges
Daily Mail
Leader of polygamous sect had 20 wives, many of them minors, FBI says
LA Times
Sam Bateman: Who is the breakaway Mormon polygamist who married nine underage girls?
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