Samuel Bateman Convicted on 3 Child Abuse Counts Over Girls Found in Arizona Trailer
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 27
Samuel Bateman Convicted on 3 Child Abuse Counts Over Girls Found in Arizona Trailer
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 27
Summary
An Arizona jury convicted Samuel Bateman on all three child abuse counts after police found three girls, ages 11 to 14, inside an unventilated trailer he was towing near Flagstaff in 2022.
Authorities stopped Bateman after a witness reported seeing small fingers through gaps in the trailer doors; inside were a makeshift toilet, a sofa and camping chairs, and Bateman later admitted the girls were in the hot trailer for hours.
Jurors reached the verdict in about 40 minutes. Bateman, who represented himself, repeatedly mentioned his separate federal conviction despite a judge's order barring that evidence from the state trial.
Bateman is already serving a 50-year federal sentence for orchestrating sex involving children and plotting to kidnap girls from protective custody, part of a wider polygamous offshoot linked to imprisoned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.