Arizona woman sentenced in FLDS child exploitation case
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Naomi Bistline was sentenced Monday in a Phoenix federal courtroom in connection with the exploitation of girls by a self-proclaimed leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Bistline, 26, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to tamper with an official proceeding, months after Samuel Bateman, of Colorado City, a town on the Utah border, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport a minor for sex and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. In his plea agreement, Bateman acknowledged that he arranged group sex with his followers and children he called his brides.
“During my time in custody, I often found myself looking for a second chance, despite realizing I had never truly been given a first,” said Bistline to U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich. Bistline became one of Bateman’s “spiritual” wives in 2020, according to court records.
Content retrieved from: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2024/12/03/woman-sentenced-in-flds-samuel-bateman-child-exploitation-case/76708077007/.
