Another member of a fundamentalist sect has been sentenced to prison for sex crimes involving children.
Other members of the sect based in Colorado City have been convicted in connection to child sexual abuse and polygamist practices.
LaDell Jay Bistline Jr. was sentenced to life in prison for victimizing at least 10 children in a yearslong child sexual abuse conspiracy.
The Phoenix Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation helmed the investigation into Bistline, and the United States Attorney's Office — District of Arizona handled the prosecution.
He is involved with an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints, a religious group that continues to practice polygamy, although the mainstream church announced the end of its support for polygamy in 1890.
Bistline was charged with multiple counts related to child pornography, transporting minors and other sex-related crimes.
In a separate trial last year, the religious group’s leader and Bistline’s co-defendant Samuel Rappylee Bateman pleaded guilty with 10 of his followers to charges related to sexual abuse.
According to court documents, Bistline offered two of his underage daughters to Bateman as child "brides." Bistline and other followers of Bateman transported the victims across the southwestern region of the United States.
Bistline also participated in sexual activity with children, according to evidence presented at trial.
