Utah man Samuel Shaffer dreamed of growing old with the 8-year-old he took as his child bride — but the leader of a doomsday cult will now be aging behind bars. 
 
 Shaffer, 34, was convicted Wednesday on one count of rape of a child and one count of child sodomy. According to multiple reports, he was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison — and Utah State Courts spokesman Geoff Fattah tells PEOPLE he will spend a minimum of 26 years behind bars. 
 
 The sentence for the co-leader of the Knights of Crystal Blade, a fundamentalist offshoot of the Mormon Church, comes after Shaffer told detectives that he was married to the 8-year-old daughter of John Coltharp, another cult member. Coltharp, who pleaded guilty on June 13 to charges of child sodomy and child bigamy, said he was married to Shaffer’s 7-year-old daughter, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by Salt Lake Tribune. 
 
 Coltharp’s sentencing is scheduled for August 8. 
 
 RELATED: Two Members of Utah Doomsday Sect Allegedly Married Each Other’s 7- and 8-Year-Old Daughters 
 
 Shaffer told deputies he had been the prophet of the church — which believes in doomsday prophecies and practices polygamy — but had recently passed down the title to Coltharp. 
 
 Police began investigating the situation on Dec. 1 after Coltharp’s ex-wife called police to report Coltharp had kidnapped their four children, according to an Iron County Sheriff’s Office press release previously obtained by PEOPLE. 
 
 Shaffer was taken into custody and told police where they could find two of the girls. Deputies discovered one of Shaffer’s daughters and one of Coltharp’s daughters inside two blue plastic 50-gallon water barrels located approximately 1,000 yards south of the Coltharp property. Shaffer told police the two girls had been placed in the water barrels to hide them from law enforcement. 
 
 Police said the two girls had spent approximately 24 hours inside the barrel in subfreezing temperatures. “These two children were not properly dressed for the cold temperatures and did not have food or water at that time,” the release states. “Shaffer also made statements he had left a firearm behind on the ground next to the barrel.” 
 
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 Police said Shaffer initially refused to tell authorities the whereabouts of the remaining two girls but that he finally did. The girls were found in “poor health with signs of dehydration and acting lethargic” in an abandoned single-wide mobile trailer, police said. 
 
 All four girls were transported by ambulance to the Cedar City hospital where they received emergency medical care. 
 
 PEOPLE was unable to immediately reach Shaffer’s attorney, Troy Sundquist, so it was not clear if he plans to appeal the sentencing. ||||| (KUTV) — Self-proclaimed cult leader Samuel Shaffer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to felony sodomy on a child. Shaffer was sentenced in Sanpete County to 15 years to life in prison. 
 
 Other charges filed against Shaffer in Sanpete County 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. 
 
 Shaffer, 34, was previously sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for first-degree felony rape of a child and one second-degree felony count of child abuse. The sentencing, carried out in Iron County, required Shaffer serve a minimum of 26 years in prison. 
 
 Shaffer's Sanpete County sentencing will run concurrent with the Iron County sentencing. 
 
 Shaffer was the self-proclaimed prophet of a cult group called The Knights of the Crystal Blade. He and another cult member, named John Alvin Coltharp, 34, were married to each other's daughters, who are minors. 
 
 On December 4, 2017, an Amber Alert was issued for Coltharp's daughters. Police began an investigation after Coltharp's ex-wife told authorities that he had taken their four children and fled after losing custody in divorce proceedings. 
 
 Two girls were found in a single-wide trailer; the other two were found in empty 50-gallon water drums. 
 
 Shaffer was arrested in December 2017 on kidnapping charges. Coltharp pleaded guilty on June 13 to charges of child sodomy and child bigamy. His sentencing is scheduled to take place August 8. 
 
 On June 8, a third man was identified as an alleged follower of the doomsday group and charged with child sexual abuse. 
 
 RELATED: 
 
 Cult leader Sam Shaffer pleads guilty to rape, child abuse 
 
 Cult leader Samuel Shaffer gets 26 years to life in prison 
 
 Doomsday cult leader pleads guilty to child sodomy and child bigamy 
 
 3rd man accused of child sex abuse from Utah doomsday group 
 
 
 

– A Utah man who said he was the prophet of a polygamist sect is headed to prison after his conviction and sentencing this week on a child sodomy charge. Samuel Shaffer is the Knights of the Crystal Blade leader who was arrested in December on kidnapping charges involving his two daughters, as well as the two daughters and two sons of sect co-founder John Coltharp, who was also arrested. On Wednesday in Sanpete County, Shaffer pleaded guilty to felony sodomy on a child and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, KUTV reports. Among the details Shaffer shared with detectives as they looked into his case, per People: that he'd "married" Coltharp's 8-year-old daughter, and Coltharp had done the same with his 7-year-old daughter. Shaffer, listed as either 34 or 35, had previously been sentenced to 26 years to life in Iron County on child rape and child abuse charges; his new sentence will run concurrent with that one. "I sincerely believed that child marriage was a correct principle from God," Shaffer told Sanpete County Judge Marvin Bagley, per USA Today. "And I've seen the consequences of what's happened, and I know that I shouldn't have done it now." But Bagley wasn't buying his excuses. "I'm not aware of any religion in this world that justifies an adult having a sexual relationship with an 8-year-old girl," Bagley said. "Certainly it's a violation of Utah law." Coltharp is set to be sentenced Aug. 8.