FLDS splinter leader sentenced to 50 years for child sex trafficking

Samuel Bateman, 48, led a polygamous splinter group breaking from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Federal Judge Susan M. Brnovich convicted him of coercing girls as young as 9 into sex acts and sentenced him to 50 years in prison. Bateman had pleaded guilty to transporting underage girls across state lines for sex crimes, operating a yearslong scheme from Colorado City, Arizona.