Polygamous sect leader convicted of abuse charges after girls found in trailer on Arizona highway

Samuel Bateman, a polygamous sect leader, was convicted of three counts of child abuse after three girls aged 11 to 14 were found in an unventilated trailer he was hauling through Arizona in August 2022. Bateman, who was already serving a federal sentence for orchestrating child sex acts, claimed during the trial that he believed the girls had exited the trailer when they stopped, but prosecutors argued the conditions were dangerously unsafe.