Kingman, USA - A man who belongs to a polygamous sect at the Utah-Arizona state line will spend nine months in prison for engaging in sex with a minor, an Arizona judge decided Monday.
Another man from the same sect agreed to a plea bargain that will keep him out of jail but may still land him on the state's sex offender registry.
Mohave County Superior Court Judge James Chavez sentenced David R. Bateman to nine months in prison on two counts of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to engage in sexual conduct with a minor. The judge agreed to let Bateman serve the terms concurrently.
Bateman, who also must register as a sex offender, was taken into custody immediately.
Bateman, a construction worker and former school teacher, is a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The polygamous sect is primarily located in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.
Warren S. Jeffs, the sect's leader, is scheduled to stand trial in Utah in April on charges of being an accomplice to rape for a 2001 marriage involving a 14-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man.
Bateman was 44 when he was spiritually sealed to a 17-year-old girl in 2001. The woman is still married to Bateman and asked the judge for leniency, according to Gary Engels, a Mohave County special investigator.
Also on Monday at the Kingman, Ariz., court, Vergel Jessop entered a no-contest plea to child abuse, a lesser offense than the two felony sex-crime charges he faced. Mohave County Prosecutor Matt Smith agreed to the plea bargain because two of Jessop's wives have serious health issues.
Jessop, 47, will receive three years' supervised probation with no jail time. Judge Steven Conn also will decide in January whether to require Jessop to register as a sex offender.
Jessop works for the parks department in Colorado City. He entered into a spiritual marriage with a 17-year-old girl in 2000.
"Each one of these is a little different," said Engels. "I hope this makes the people up there think twice before they participate in this type of action in the future."
A Mohave County grand jury indicted eight men from the FLDS community on identical sex-crime charges in August 2005. So far, five cases have been resolved.
Kelly Fischer was convicted and sentenced to 45 days in jail in August. Donald Barlow was acquitted in September after the county prosecutor failed to prove the crime took place in Arizona. The county dropped its case against Terry D. Barlow in October after Barlow proved his marriage took place in Canada.
Charges are still pending against Rodney Holm, Randy Barlow and Dale Barlow.