Child bride of Arizona cult leader Samuel Bateman sentenced in abduction case
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A young woman who was a minor when she was taken as a wife by a cult leader in northern Arizona was sentenced to time served in connection with the abduction of eight girls.
Moretta Johnson, 21, was among the 22 “wives,” including 10 minors, of Samuel Bateman, a self-professed Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints prophet. In December, Bateman was sentenced to 50 years in prison for conspiracy to transport a minor for sex and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich sentenced Johnson on Wednesday. Johnson had pleaded guilty to concealing a felony. Johnson and two other women, Donnea Barlow and Naomi Bistline, were indicted in 2022 with conspiracy to commit child abduction.
Several girls had been removed from Bateman’s property in Colorado City, near the Utah border, by the Arizona Department of Child Safety, and prosecutors accused Johnson of helping the other women kidnap the girls from state custody. The three women were found in Washington and brought back to Arizona to be prosecuted.
Barlow and Bistline pleaded guilty to tampering with official proceedings, were sentenced to time served, and placed on supervised probation.
During his sentencing, a judge admonished Bateman of using his influence to abuse and rape women and girls.
According to court records, Johnson was underage when Bateman took her as a “bride.” She gave birth to a child seven months after she turned 18.
Content retrieved from: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2025/02/06/child-bride-of-arizona-cult-leader-sentenced-in-abduction-case/78259059007/.
