Polygamist leader charged with sexually abusing claimed wives.

Samuel Bateman, the leader of a polygamous splinter group on the Utah-Arizona border, has been charged with 51 felonies, including sexually abusing underage girls he had claimed as his wives. Ten of his followers, some of whom were his adult wives, were also charged with aiding him in the sex crimes. Bateman is alleged to have claimed his first minor wife in May 2020, who was 9 years old at the time. He traveled across Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and Nebraska to collect child brides, who were the daughters of his followers. Bateman is currently being held without bail in a private prison in Arizona, and his trial has been postponed until 2024.