Utah cult leader who wanted to have kids with 8-year-old 'bride' sentenced to 15 years

John Bacon | USA TODAY

A self-proclaimed leader of a doomsday cult who says he considered an 8-year-old girl his bride has been sentenced to 15 years in a Utah prison on one count of child sodomy.

Samuel Warren Shaffer, 35, was co-leader of the Knights of the Crystal Blade along with the father of his victim, John Coltharp. Shaffer told investigators he married Coltharp’s daughter and Coltharp married Shaffer’s 7-year-old daughter.

Shaffer said he hoped to have a family and grow old with the child.

"I sincerely believed that child marriage was a correct principle from God. And I've seen the consequences of what's happened, and I know that I shouldn't have done it now," Shaffer told a judge in Sanpete County. "But I sincerely believed that the practice was correct at the time."

More: Cult leader sentenced in child rape case in Utah

More: Utah sect leader pleads guilty to rape after marrying 8-year-old

Coltharp, 34, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to sodomy and child bigamy charges.

Authorities became involved in the case in December, when an Amber Alert for Coltharp's two daughters ended in Iron County with the discovery of two children hiding in a water barrel and two more stashed in a trailer a few miles away.

Shaffer’s has said that his beliefs – including marrying children, polygamy and the impending end of the world – came to him directly from God on June 22, 2015.

Shaffer was also charged with child rape and abuse charges in Iron County, where last month he was sentenced to 26 years to life in Utah State Prison. The new sentence won't extend his time in prison, prosecutors said.

At the first sentencing, he said he did not want his victim to blame herself for his imprisonment.

“I want her to know that I’m glad she testified against me,” he told the court. “I want her to know that everything that’s happening to me is my fault and it’s not her fault. I love her and I respect her.”

On Wednesday, Judge Marvin Bagley questioned Shaffer's claims that he cared so much for the girl and dismissed religion as an excuse for the crime.

“I’m not aware of any religion in this world that justifies an adult having a sexual relationship with an 8-year-old girl,” the judge said. “Certainly it’s a violation of Utah law.”

Contributing: JJ DeForest, The (St. George, Utah) Spectrum; The Associated Press