How 8 girls in Arizona protective care ended up back with a polygamous cult over 1,000 miles away [View all]

Source: Insider

How 8 girls in Arizona protective care ended up back with a polygamous cult over 1,000 miles away

Haven Orecchio-Egresitz
Sat, December 10, 2022 at 8:00 AM·5 min read

• Nine girls were taken from the Arizona homes of an FLDS cult leader in August.
• The girls were placed in Arizona group homes for children but fled in November.
• Four days later, eight of the girls were found back with the cult over 1,000 miles away.

Samuel Bateman, the self-anointed "prophet" of a polygamous FLDS cult, was arrested in August after three young girls were found hidden in a cargo trailer that law enforcement said he was towing on a highway in Flagstaff, Arizona — over 1,000 miles from the group's stronghold in Colorado City.

Around that time, local officials raided Arizona residences used by Bateman — who has 20 wives, most of them children — and nine girls were placed in Arizona Department of Child Safety group homes, according to the FBI.

Two months later, though, eight of those girls had run away. Four days after they ran away, they were found with members of the group in Washington State.

"On November 27, 2022, eight of the nine minor females ran away from DCS group homes," Dawn Martin, an FBI special agent, wrote in an affidavit filed in federal courts in Washington and Arizona.

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/8-girls-arizona-protective-care-120000594.html

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Earlier DU thread: Polygamist leader claimed 20 'wives,' including minors, FBI says