Child brides say FLDS follower pressured them to marry abuser
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PHOENIX (CN) — Two more witnesses in a federal child sex abuse trial surrounding a polygamist religious sect said defendant LaDell Bistline Jr. pressured them into marrying the man who sexually abused them for three years while they were children.
Bistline Jr. is accused of transporting minors for sexual activity and using interstate commerce to entice a minor into sexual conduct and is charged for his role in a polygamist child sex abuse ring ran by Samuel Rappylee Bateman, a self-proclaimed prophet and leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Bistline Jr. — a member of the small Mormon offshoot community based in Colorado City, Arizona and a follower of Bateman — was appointed as a caretaker to multiple families in the community by its former leader Warren Jeffs, who is now serving life in prison.
In the eighth day of trial on Friday, two girls given to Bateman as child brides echoed previous testimony that Bistline Jr. pressured them to marry Bateman in 2020 knowing they’d be sexually abused.
“He kept telling us if we didn’t, we would go against God,” now-17-year-old J.B. told 15 jurors Friday afternoon. “We would go against God.”
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