US polygamous leader with 20 'wives' faces sentencing for sexual abuse of children

[Jilly_in_VA]

A polygamous religious leader who claimed more than 20 spiritual “wives” including 10 underage girls faces decades in prison at his sentencing on Monday for forcing girls as young as nine years old to submit to criminal sex acts with him and other adults.

Samuel Bateman, whose small group was an offshoot of the sect once led by Warren Jeffs, has pleaded guilty to a years-long scheme to transport girls across state lines for his sex crimes, and later to kidnap some of them from protective custody. His plea agreement called for 20 to 50 years in prison, though each conviction carries a possible life sentence.

But first, a federal judge will hear from a doctor who evaluated Bateman’s competency. The question could determine whether the sentencing goes forward or Bateman is remanded to state custody for psychiatric treatment until he’s deemed mentally fit to assist in his defense, his attorney Brian Russo said.

Authorities say that Bateman, 48, tried to start an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints based in the neighboring communities of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. The fundamentalist group, also known as FLDS, split from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after Mormons officially abandoned polygamy in 1890.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/09/polygamous-leader-samuel-bateman-sentencing

I have nothing against polygamy/polygyny between consenting adults , however, the FLDS is WAY out of bounds and off the rails

[Scrivener7]

1. Shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

[Dave Bowman]

2. A maniac named Bateman?

[Ilsa]

3. I don't like the intention of polygamists to

"marry" miltiple women, but not take care of the dozens of children they produce. They usually have the extra wives apply for public assistance.

[TexasBushwhacker]

5. I was gonna say

They tend to be a burden on the public assistance system. The husband is generally an unpaid pastor. Some of his wives will work outside the home to support their ginormous family and others will stay to homeschool the children. Because these communities are small, inbreeding is common. I word imagine inheritance is a nightmare to figure when the husband dies.

[Johonny]

4. It is either jail or into the Trump cabinet

For them.