Trial begins against two involved in polygamist child sex abuse case
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PHOENIX (CN) — Federal prosecutors Tuesday began presenting their case on the first day of the trial against two Arizona men accused of aiding and participating in a child sex abuse ring involving 10 girls as young as nine years old.
Brothers LaDell and Torrance Bistline are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an offshoot of the Mormon Church that still practices polygamy, and, according to the government, followers of its leader Samuel Rappylee Bateman, who in April admitted to having regular sex with his ten child brides and at least 12 other spiritual wives.
Before 15 jurors in a Phoenix courtroom Tuesday afternoon, attorney Kathy Henry called Bateman “evil” and “a monster,” but insisted that her client, Torrance Bistline, had no knowledge of, let alone involvement in, Bateman’s sexual crimes.
“He’s raped nobody,” Henry said. “He’s exploited no children. He didn’t even hang out with Bateman. He was too busy perfecting his business.”
Torrance Bistline began making large profits off his company VelociWrapper, which sells an automatic cable wrapping machine for solar and wind farms, around the same time Bateman rose to power in the FLDS community. Henry said Bateman and another FLDS member named Maroni Johnson, who worked with Torrance Bistline, took advantage of him and took control over his profits, using the money to buy Bentley cars and other extravagant purchases.
Johnson also admitted to having sex with children, and will be called to testify in the trial.
“This case is nothing more than Maroni Johnson trying to take down Torrance Bistline and his company,” Henry said.
Jacob Faussette, representing LaDell Bistline Jr., painted Bateman and Johnson as the villains of the narrative, taking advantage of those around them. He asked the jury to pay attention to three key elements of the case while they listen over the next several weeks: “Money, sex and power.”
He didn’t deny LaDell Bistline’s participation in the child sex abuse ring.
Samuel Bateman rose to power in the FLDS community, located mostly in Colorado City, Arizona, in 2019, eight years after the arrest and life imprisonment of Warren Jeffs left a power vacuum. From 2019 to 2022, Bateman amassed at least two dozen wives, 10 of whom were children when he married and first had sex with them.
Federal prosecutor Ryan Powell said LaDell was a key contributor to Bateman’s rise to power giving his own two daughters, who were 9 and 11 at the time, to Bateman in 2020.
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