Leader of polygamous sect had 20 wives, many of them minors, FBI says

Three girls embrace before being removed from the home of Samuel Bateman, who was arrested earlier this year. He was supported financially by male followers who also gave over their own wives and children to be Bateman’s wives, according to an FBI affidavit. Bateman says he was told by former FLDS leader Warren Jeffs to invoke the “Spirit of God on these people.” The affidavit details explicit sexual acts that Bateman and his followers engaged in to fulfill “Godly duties.” Jeffs is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for child sex abuse related to underage marriages. Bateman lived in Colorado City, Ariz., among a patchwork of devout members of the polygamous FLDS, former church members and those who didn’t practice multiple marriage. None of the girls placed in state custody in Arizona disclosed sexual abuse by Bateman during forensic interviews, though one said she was present during sexual activity, according to the FBI affidavit.