Another Arizona woman imprisoned for role in polygamist child sex abuse ring
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PHOENIX (CN) — A sixth spiritual wife of an Arizona religious leader who sexually abused 10 underage girls in the name of God was sentenced to prison Wednesday afternoon.
Leilani Barlow, who admitted to marrying her underage daughter off to the man who would repeatedly rape the girl for two years, will spend six years in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release.
“You knew that would happen,” U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich told Barlow in a sentencing hearing in Phoenix. “He anally raped her numerous times.”
Barlow was one of at least 24 women spiritually married to Samuel Bateman, a self-proclaimed prophet and momentary leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Bateman amassed his wives, 10 of whom were underage and two of whom were as young as nine when he married them, from 2019 to 2022, when he was arrested and charged with 52 felony counts, including using interstate commerce to entice a minor into sexual conduct and kidnapping.
Prosecutors say Bateman used religion to coerce women in the community, telling them they’d burn in hell for disobedience. Most obliged, but Brnovich didn’t accept the excuse.
“A lot of community members rejected Sam Bateman,” she told Barlow. “They knew what he was doing was fake. And wrong.”
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