this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2026
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A polygamous sect leader already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating sex involving children was convicted Friday on state child abuse charges after girls were found in an unventilated trailer he was hauling through Arizona.

Someone alerted authorities about the trailer in August 2022 after seeing small fingers reaching through gaps in the doors. Police stopped Samuel Bateman’s vehicle as he was driving through Flagstaff and found three girls inside, who were ages 11 to 14 at the time. The trailer was enclosed with a makeshift toilet, a sofa and camping chairs.

In the federal case, Bateman was convicted of coercing girls as young as 9 to submit to sex acts with him and other young adults, and for scheming to kidnap girls from protective custody, the story of which is the focus of a Netflix series, “Trust Me: The False Prophet.”

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[–] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 20 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The standout point of this for me is, how does it take 4 years to prepare and try a case against a convict, already in prison, who incompetently represents himself at both trials, that takes 45 minutes for a jury to decide? Some of those girls are adults now. I doubt the guy was constantly twisting the judge's arm for continuances and motions and all the other disgusting delay tactics real lawyers use. This should have been an open and shut slam dunk case, and if an open and shut case takes this long, and we all know how much longer the actually complex and difficult cases take, that just demonstrates how utterly broken the justice system really is. It's not just a "little bit slow" broken, it's not functioning. Justice delayed is justice denied. That's a non-functional justice system. We don't have justice in this system. This is not justice.

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

The judicial system is extremely backlogged and clogged up, some say by design.

[–] TheTimeKnife@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Imagine if the people in America who pretend to care about children went after the real danger to them, religious nut jobs. Country is dominated by a cult that voted for a pedophile and im supposed to pretend trans people are the great boogeyman.

[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 6 points 3 weeks ago

They keep making up boogeymen and blaming them for the crimes committed by powerful religious men and we keep buying it for some reason. I don't want to hear another word about whatever bs moral panic they make up next until we deal with the real threat to children's safety. I don't care if it's considered rude to critique powerful men. Fuck them

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Also, I have to laugh that Q is still a thing, especially with their appeal to "save the children". They think/thought that it was going to be all about Democrats being arrested, and if they really believed/believe that, they are complete idiots.

If you want to be effective at saving the children, you should probably start with taking a look at conservatives and their associated organizations, not people like Hillary Clinton, Podesta, Obama, etc...

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

They are giving 30 years to someone that transported some zines, though, so....win?

Also, apparently more people were arrested over touching the reflecting pool than were arrested for the Epstein files.

Again, good to know the authorities have their priorities...

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Same people who pretend to care about brown people halfway around the world, i guess. Feigned outrage is simply a convenient distraction from actually doing something to stop shit from happening.

But once those gas prices hit $10/gallon, then well talk for real.

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Someone alerted authorities about the trailer in August 2022 after seeing small fingers reaching through gaps in the doors.

Sick to my stomach. Why isn't this douche getting the death penalty?

I mean, heavy sigh I know why, but WHYYYYYYYYY?!

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago

The government legally killing people is not a good thing.

[–] hoch@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

Check out "Trust Me: The False Prophet" on Netflix if you're interested in learning more. It's a 4-part documentary about Bateman and his wives. It's a lot more fucked up than just the trailer bit.

[–] Rusticus@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

His mistake was not being a billionaire.

[–] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm against capital punishment in principle, but shit like this makes me rage. We need to bring back burning people at the stake specifically for these fucking bastards.

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago

We really don't, thanks.

[–] o0evillusion0o@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago

Still doesn't beat the TRUMP-EPSTEIN FILES (TM)