A self-styled prophet accused of secretly marrying young girls because of his beliefs in polygamy and doomsday pleaded guilty in Utah Wednesday to child rape and abuse charges filed after police raided the group’s remote desert compound.
Samuel W. Shaffer faces at least 25 years in prison after agreeing to the Wednesday plea deal in Iron County, where prosecutors said he abused an 8-year-old girl related to a group member, the Spectrum newspaper reported.
Child kidnapping and additional abuse courts were dropped in an agreement that keeps the girl from having to testify, said Iron County Attorney Scott Garrett.
Shaffer and a friend formed a group called the Knights of the Crystal Blade based on arcane Mormon ideas long abandoned by the mainstream church and each believed himself married to two young girls, prosecutors have said.