Pedophile Cult Leader Who Planned To Marry Eight-year-old Victim Is Jailed

Sick Samuel Shaffer, of Utah, admitted the vile sex crimes on Wednesday

© press Sick Samuel Shaffer, of Utah, admitted the vile sex crimes on Wednesday

The leader of sadistic cult 'The Knights of the Crystal Blade' who admitted sodomy on a child was served a second life sentence for sex crimes against children.

Pedophile Samuel Shaffer, of Utah, admitted the vile sex crimes on Wednesday in Sanpete County.



He was sentenced to 15 years behind bars which will run concurrently with his previous life term for first-degree felony rape of a child and one second-degree felony count of child abuse.

Shaffer chilling told the court he had hoped to have a family and grow with the 8-year-old victim, who he considered being his 'bride'.

"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.

"But I sincerely believed that the practice was correct at the time."

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The Mirror reports: Other charges filed against the 34-year-old were dismissed, including an additional felony count of sodomy on a child, one felony count of obstruction of justice, one count of child bigamy, a felony, and one count of lewdness involving a child, a misdemeanor, CBS News reports.

That sentencing was held at Iron County and requires the vile abuser to serve a minimum of 26 years in prison.

Shaffer was the self-proclaimed leader of a cult called The Knights of the Crystal Blade.

He and another cult member, John Alvin Coltharp, 34, were married to each other's underage daughters.

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In December last year, Coltharp's ex-wife told authorities he had taken their four children and fled after losing a custody battle during their divorce.

It sparked a police investigation and an 'amber alert' was issued for the children.

All four were later found - two in a single-wide trailer and the others hidden in empty 50-gallon water drums.

Shaffer was arrested in December on kidnapping charges.

Coltharp pleaded guilty on June 13 to child sodomy and bigamy and is due to be sentenced on August 8.

Weeks ago, on June 8, a third man was identified as an alleged follower of the cult and was subsequently charged with child sex abuse.