A businessman pleaded guilty Tuesday to collaborating with the leader of an offshoot polygamous sect along the Arizona-Utah border to transport young girls over state borders, becoming the first male convicted of a plan to facilitate child sexual acts.
Moroni Johnson, who faces 10 to life in prison, admitted to transporting four under-18 girls for sexual conduct. Johnson, 53, and the sect's head, self-proclaimed prophet Samuel Bateman, conspired for three years until September 2022, according to authorities.
Police say Bateman developed a wide network in at least four states to start an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which is located in Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. In 1890, the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints abandoned polygamy and today forbids it. He and his followers practice it. Bateman and his supporters believe polygamy attains heaven.
Bateman had over 20 spouses, including 10 under 18, according to the FBI. Bateman allegedly gave his male followers brides as gifts on orders from the “Heavenly Father.” Investigators claim Bateman frequently traveled between Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska and had sex with teenage girls. Some Bateman sexual behavior was recorded and sent across state borders via electronic equipment.
State police in Flagstaff detained Bateman in August 2022 when someone saw little fingers in an enclosed trailer door gap. Three 11–14-year-old girls were found in the trailer, which included a makeshift toilet, sofa, camping chairs, and no ventilation.
Nine children were taken from Bateman's Colorado City residence and placed in foster care after his second arrest. Eight children escaped foster care. The FBI claimed three of Bateman's adult spouses helped them leave Arizona. The girls were located hundreds of miles away in Washington state in an adult wife's car.
Four of Bateman's adult wives pleaded guilty to conspiracy to tamper with an official proceeding earlier this year, admitting they saw Bateman have sexual relations with his child brides and helped kidnap the eight girls from state custody.
Four other wives of Bateman and two of his male followers are also charged with using interstate commerce to induce or coerce a juvenile to engage in sexual behavior. Four women and two males have filed not guilty pleas.
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