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.”
All but one of the eight adult wives indicted alongside Bateman pleaded guilty to lower counts this year. Barlow pleaded guilty to one count of using interstate commerce to coerce a minor to engage in sexual activity, dropping two similar counts against her in return.
In a sentencing hearing in Phoenix, Barlow took full responsibility for her actions.
“I know I had a choice,” she told Brnovich. “I made some bad choices. I want to do everything in my power to make restitution. I know without a shadow of a doubt that it will never happen again.”
Federal prosecutor Jillian Besancon said Barlow’s words were encouraging, but implored Brnovich to consider the severity of Barlow’s actions. Not only did she give up her daughter, she also kidnapped Bateman’s underage brides from the Department of Child Safety after they’d been removed from Bateman’s home in Colorado City, Arizona.
Besancon acknowledged that Barlow was “manipulated and convinced” to do Bateman’s bidding, and recommended a middle ground between the sentences of other wives. Josephine Bistline, who gave two daughters to Bateman and regularly engaged in group sexual acts known as “spiritual atonements” with Bateman and his child brides, was sentenced to 15 years, while other wives who had no children to give Bateman were given two or three years.
Brnovich agreed, giving Barlow the government’s recommended sentence.
“Your daughter is gonna have to deal with the trauma she suffered for many months for the rest of her life,” Brnovich said. “It’s gonna be hard for her.”
Upon release, Barlow will be allowed no contact with Bateman, and will need to seek permission from a parole officer to contact her now-adult daughter.
Barlow’s daughter and Bateman’s nine other child brides were the subjects of a dramatic but slam dunk trial in September, in which two of Bateman’s male followers were found guilty of aiding and abetting Bateman’s child sex abuse ring for more than two years.
After three weeks of testimony from nearly all of Bateman’s brides, the jury took less than two hours to reach a verdict.
The defendants, brothers Torrance Bistline and LaDell Bistline Jr., are scheduled to be sentenced in December, and could see up to life in prison. Bateman, facing the same possibility, is set to be sentenced on Nov. 25, but the date has been moved twice already, and may be moved again.