Federal investigators revealed an Arizona man arrested by local authorities in August to be a polygamous cult leader with at least 20 wives, many of whom were minors.
According to details released by the FBI, the agency accused 46-year-old Samuel Rappylee Bateman of sexually abusing underage girls in an affidavit filed in federal court. Authorities have also charged three women, Naomi Bistline, Donnae Barlow, and Moretta Rose Johnson, for kidnapping eight underage girls.
Bateman was arrested on August 28th by state troopers in Arizona for three counts of child abuse after an officer saw a minor’s hand sticking out of the horse trailer pulled by his truck. Authorities reported seeing three girls, aged nine to 13, inside the trailer. The trailer also contained makeshift seats and a bucket that served as a toilet for the girls.
FBI reports also said that Bateman beat up those who did not greet him as a prophet and engaged in child sex trafficking with the help of his several wives. Bateman was defiant, saying he committed sexual acts against minors in “Heavenly Father’s will.”
According to accounts detailed in a federal court document, Samuel Bateman began gathering young women, and then girls, and then the adult wives of his male followers as his own wives - and later directed and participated in group sex acts with them.https://t.co/UbDFX0xqTF
— The Salt Lake Tribune (@sltrib) December 3, 2022
Two of the three women arrested at the scene, Naomi Bistline and Donnae Barlow, appeared at a federal court in Flagstaff, Arizona, last December 12 and 13, respectively. As for Moretta Rose Johnson, 19, she was deported to Washington, but she also appeared in an initial court hearing in Flagstaff on December 12th.
According to the Guardian, the three women were accused of fleeing along with eight of Bateman’s children, who were placed under the care of the Arizona government earlier this year but were found hundreds of miles away in Spokane, Washington.
Details from the FBI reported the group escaping from Phoenix, Arizona, and using Airbnb rentals while on their way to Washington. Federal investigators used this information from these rentals and eventually caught up with them in Washington.
Bateman is currently detained in Florence, Arizona, and awaits a trial scheduled for January 10. Aside from accusations of child abuse, he’s also facing charges of destroying evidence, which could carry a 20-year prison sentence. The allegations of destroying evidence came after the FBI arrested Bateman again and discovered evidence from his property in his hometown along the Arizona-Utah border. Investigators also say he instructed his followers to delete their Signal app, which allegedly contained incriminating messages and videos.
Bateman’s attorney, Adam K. Zickerman, defended him and said that the case revolved around religious persecution. Still, the FBI maintains that Bateman used his position in the cult for his personal and financial benefit.
Detectives who spent months investigating the case found out that Bateman started an offshoot sect from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) and used his influence to persuade male followers to give up their wives and daughters to him. The FLDS itself is an offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints after the original Mormon church renounced polygamy in the 1890s.
