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Polygamous group spent months trafficking minors in Lincoln, court documents allege

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, 2022-12-09 11:00:00,

The leader of a polygamous group who declared himself a prophet spent months in Lincoln taking several girls as wives and orchestrating illicit sex acts with minors, according to federal court documents.

Samuel R. Bateman was arrested in August on state child abuse charges and federal charges of tampering with evidence. He has pleaded not guilty ahead of a January trial and remains in custody in Arizona.

Newly filed federal court documents provide more insight into the case against Bateman, who allegedly took at least 20 wives, most of them minors, and punished followers who did not treat him as a prophet.

While the affidavit in Bateman’s case has been sealed, three of his supposed wives within the fundamentalist sect were arrested for kidnapping and impeding a prosecution related to Bateman’s case earlier this month.

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The complaint against Naomi Bistline, Donnae Barlow and Moretta Rose Johnson sheds light on Bateman and his circle as they moved between Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Nebraska allegedly trafficking and engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors over a period of months.

Bateman, 46, proclaimed himself a prophet in 2019, claiming as the “Heavenly Father” he had been ordered to begin taking his followers’ wives and daughters as his own wives, or giving women — some underage — to other men as wives.

A former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, itself a breakaway sect of the Mormon Church, Bateman was at one time a close associate of Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas for child sex abuse related to underage marriages.

While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once allowed its adherents to practice polygamy, the mainstream Mormon Church abandoned the practice in 1890 and now prohibits it.

According to the FBI, Bateman used his position of leadership within his small sect that is concentrated in Colorado City, a town of roughly 2,500 people on the Arizona-Utah border, to reward or punish his followers by giving or taking away wives, at least one as young as 10 years old.

In the affidavit filed by the FBI, Bateman took the first of what would become more than 20 wives in…

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Polygamous group spent months trafficking minors in Lincoln, court documents allege | National News

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, 2022-12-08 17:00:00,

The leader of a polygamous group who declared himself a prophet spent months in Lincoln taking several girls as wives and orchestrating illicit sex acts with minors, according to federal court documents.

Samuel R. Bateman was arrested in August on state child abuse charges and federal charges of tampering with evidence. He has pleaded not guilty ahead of a January trial and remains in custody in Arizona.

Newly filed federal court documents provide more insight into the case against Bateman, who allegedly took at least 20 wives, most of them minors, and punished followers who did not treat him as a prophet.

While the affidavit in Bateman’s case has been sealed, three of his supposed wives within the fundamentalist sect were arrested for kidnapping and impeding a prosecution related to Bateman’s case earlier this month.

The complaint against Naomi Bistline, Donnae Barlow and Moretta Rose Johnson sheds light on Bateman and his circle as they moved between Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Nebraska allegedly trafficking and engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors over a period of months.

Bateman, 46, proclaimed himself a prophet in 2019, claiming as the “Heavenly Father” he had been ordered to begin taking his followers’ wives and daughters as his own wives, or giving women — some underage — to other men as wives.

A former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, itself a breakaway sect of the Mormon Church, Bateman was at one time a close associate of Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas for child sex abuse related to underage marriages.

While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once allowed its adherents to practice polygamy, the mainstream Mormon Church abandoned the practice in 1890 and now prohibits it.

According to the FBI, Bateman used his position of leadership within his small sect that is concentrated in Colorado City, a town of roughly 2,500 people on the Arizona-Utah border, to reward or punish his followers by giving or taking away wives, at least one as young as 10 years old.

In the affidavit filed by the FBI, Bateman took the first of what would become more than 20 wives in May 2020 when he was living in Lincoln. Two women, described as the “young adult daughters” of one of his followers, eventually fathered his children.

Bateman later…

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To read the original article, go to Click here

PIA Logo Private Internet Access gives you unparalleled access to thousands of next-gen servers in over 83 countries and each US state. Your VPN experience will always be fast, smooth, and reliable.

UNMC survey of perceived health effects related to AltEn continuing | National News

UNMC survey of perceived health effects related to AltEn continuing | National News

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Researchers from the University of Nebraska and Creighton University are continuing to assess individuals’ perceptions living in proximity to the AltEn ethanol plant near Mead.

A survey designed by the University of Nebraska Medical Center to measure the perceived health risks related to AltEn has been put online to help reach a greater number of people living in Saunders County.

Smaller funding package for AltEn research study advances

Dr. Eleanor Rogan, the interim chair of the Department of Health Promotion in UNMC’s College of Public Health, said the questionnaire is modeled on the Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response created by the Centers for Disease Control.

“This is a common way to get some insight into what kinds of health problems people are experiencing, to narrow down the search for adverse health effects that may actually be caused by the exposure, or an event,” Rogan said.

It’s also “much faster and less expensive than actually medically examining everyone for everything,” she added.

The 40-question survey, which takes about 15 minutes to complete, asks for basic household information, the level of awareness and feelings residents may have about AltEn, as well as physical and mental health conditions they have experienced since the plant started operating in 2015.

Residents who respond to the survey will also be asked to identify when any symptoms may have started, and if they believe their health conditions could be connected to the biofuel plant’s activities.

AltEn used seeds coated in pesticides to manufacture ethanol, leaving behind toxic solid and liquid waste products. The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy ordered the plant to shut down in February 2021 for numerous violations of state environmental regulations.

More than 215 people of the 1,000 who received the survey by mail earlier this year have returned it, Rogan said, and more than 150 people have signed up to provide a blood or urine sample to be analyzed for any of the chemicals found in high concentrations at AltEn.

The samples will be taken at the Saunders County Medical Center in Wahoo and analyzed at the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory in Omaha.

The survey will remain active through the end of May, Rogan said. UNMC plans to analyze the data and make the aggregated, non-identifiable information public at a later date.

Individuals whose blood or urine samples show the presence of toxic compounds will be provided specific advice for contacting a physician, Rogan added.

No funding for AltEn study in state budget packages; researchers say work could end prematurely

If an ongoing funding source can be secured, individuals will also be asked to participate in a medical registry which will track any health issues they develop for years to come.

The massive project to study AltEn’s affect on air quality, surface and groundwater, and the health of humans, wildlife and pollinators was first proposed a year ago.

At that time, UNMC pegged the cost of the study at $1 million per year for 10 years. Earlier this year, the cost of the study was reduced to $7.8 million.

Private donors helped get the project moving forward last year as the research team sought other funding to keep it going, and Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue introduced a bill (LB1048) this year appropriating $10 million in federal funds to put toward the research.

The Legislature’s Appropriations Committee did not include Blood’s bill in any of the budget packages it forwarded to the floor for debate.

But last week, lawmakers advanced another bill (LB1068) with an amendment from Blood attached appropriating $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to continue the study over the next year.

LB1068, introduced by Sen. John Stinner of Gering, will need to pass two more rounds of consideration in the final seven days of the 60-day session before it can be sent to Gov. Pete Ricketts’ desk for his signature.

Meanwhile, Rogan said a town hall in Mead is being planned to communicate next steps in the research study, which includes ongoing sampling of soil, surface and groundwater, and air to study their movement in the environment.

The perceived health risk survey can be found at www.unmc.edu/env-pollution.

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