• Prosecutors added child pornography charges and particulars about kids he took as wives to their case against the chief of a small polygamous group in Utah.
• A federal grand jury on Wednesday issued a superseding indictment against 47-year-old Samuel Bateman.
• The newest indictment expands upon these allegations and says Bateman traveled extensively between Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Nebraska and allegedly had intercourse with the minor ladies frequently.

Prosecutors have widened their case against the chief of a small polygamous group that resides close to the Utah-Arizona border, adding child pornography charges and detailing his sexual encounters with kids he took as wives in new charges filed earlier this month.

Sam Bateman is accused of constructing child pornography in a superseding indictment filed not too long ago. The May 18 doc additionally gives new particulars about how he took wives as younger as 9 years outdated as he labored to win followers in no less than 4 states to start out his personal small offshoot group of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The FLDS is itself a breakaway sect of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, widely known as the Mormon Church. Polygamy is a legacy of the early teachings of the mainstream church, but it surely deserted the observe in 1890 and now strictly prohibits it.

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The indictment provides to a raft of charges filed against Bateman final 12 months. In December, prosecutors charged Bateman and a number of other of his wives with kidnapping minors and impeding a foreseeable prosecution for serving to younger ladies related to the group flee Arizona foster care. An FBI affidavit printed as a part of the case claimed Bateman took greater than 20 wives, together with 10 ladies below the age of 18.

The newest indictment expands on these allegations and says Bateman traveled extensively between Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Nebraska and allegedly had intercourse with the minor ladies frequently. It additionally charges Bateman with the manufacturing of child pornography.

Bateman was arrested final 12 months and stays in federal custody pending his trial, which is scheduled for March 5, 2024. He beforehand has pleaded not responsible to state and federal charges accusing him of kidnapping, child abuse and tampering with proof.

A name to one in all Bateman’s legal professionals searching for remark concerning the case wasn’t instantly returned Thursday.