By JACQUES BILLEAUD (Associated Press)
PHOENIX (AP) — On Tuesday, a businessman pleaded guilty to working with the leader of a breakaway polygamous sect close to the Arizona-Utah border to take underage girls across state borders. This makes him the first man to be found guilty in what authorities say was a plan to organize sexual acts with children.
Moroni Johnson, who could get 10 years to life in prison, admitted to taking part in a plan to move four girls under 18 for sexual activity. The agreement between the 53-year-old Johnson and the sect’s leader, self-declared prophet Samuel Bateman, went on for three years until September 2022, according to authorities.
Bateman had set up an extensive network across at least four states as he tried to establish a breakaway group from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, historically based in Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. He and his followers practice polygamy, which traces back to the early teachings of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The mainstream Church abandoned the practice in 1890 and strictly prohibits it now. Bateman and his followers believe polygamy leads to exaltation in heaven.
According to the FBI, Bateman had more than 20 wives, including 10 girls under 18. Bateman is accused of giving wives as gifts to his male followers, claiming to act on orders from the “Heavenly Father.” Investigators say Bateman traveled extensively across Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska and regularly had sex with minor girls. Some of the sexual activity involving Bateman was recorded and sent across state lines using electronic devices.
The FBI said Bateman insisted that his followers publicly confess any wrongdoings and widely shared those confessions. He claimed that the punishments, which included everything from a time out to public shaming and sexual activity, were the commands of the Lord, according to the federal law enforcement agency. Authorities said Johnson was pressured by Bateman to give up three of his wives as penance because Johnson wasn’t treating Bateman as a prophet.
Bateman was arrested in August 2022 by state police in Flagstaff after someone saw small fingers in a door crack on an enclosed trailer. Inside, authorities found three girls — between 11 and 14 years old — in the trailer, which had a makeshift toilet, a sofa, camping chairs, and no ventilation.
Bateman posted bond, but he was arrested again the following month and charged with obstructing justice in a federal investigation into whether children were being transported across state lines for sexual activity.
During the second arrest, nine children were taken from Bateman’s home in Colorado City and placed in foster care. Eight of the children later escaped from foster care. The FBI claimed that three of Bateman’s adult wives were involved in getting them out of Arizona. The girls were found hundreds of miles away in Washington state in a vehicle driven by one of the adult wives.
Bateman has entered a plea of not guilty to state and federal accusations, which include plotting to take a minor across state lines for sexual activity, plotting to tamper with an official proceeding, and plotting to abduct the girls who were placed in state child welfare agency after his arrest. Myles Schneider, a lawyer representing Bateman, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on behalf of his client.
Bateman was instructed to stay in jail until his trial is resolved, now set for Sept. 10.
Earlier this year, four of Bateman’s adult wives each admitted guilt to a charge of plotting to tamper with an official proceeding, acknowledging that they saw Bateman engage in sexual acts with his child brides and also participated in the plot to abduct the eight girls from state custody.
Accusations are also pending against four other women identified as Bateman’s wives and two of his male followers, both of whom are charged with using a means of interstate commerce to persuade or coerce a minor to engage in sexual activity, among other accusations. The four women and two men have entered a plea of not guilty to the accusations.
