Samuel Bateman: Cult leader who drives a Bentley had 20 wives as young as nine, including his own daughter

Shocking allegations against Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 46, were revealed in a new FBI affidavit following his arrest in Arizona earlier in 2022. Witnesses accused Bateman of "marrying" up to 20 women and girls as young as nine, including his own daughter, per the affidavit filed on Friday, December 2. The cult leader has been in federal custody on obstruction charges since his September arrest, when he was pulled over by cops while transporting girls in a squalid trailer.

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According to the Daily Mail, Bateman leads an offshoot group of the radical Mormon offshoot Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or FLDS. However, he was apparently so extreme that he had been denounced even by notorious ex-FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who is a convicted child rapist. The affidavit, filed in the Eastern District of Washington, reportedly details disturbing allegations of incest, child sex trafficking and orgies involving adults and underage children. Citing witness statements, FBI Agent Dawn A Martin stated in the filing that Bateman "began to proclaim he was a prophet" and told his own teenage daughter in 2019 that he wanted to marry her. The perp has since gathered "approximately 50 followers and more than 20 wives, many of whom are minors, mostly under the age of 15," per the affidavit. 

The document also cites evidence including recordings of Bateman speaking to a couple in Colorado City, Arizona, who were filming a documentary on the polygamy community there. In one instance, Bateman told the pair that the "heavenly father" had instructed him in November 2021 to "give the most precious thing he has, his girls' virtue," to three of his adult male disciples. He allegedly have watched as the three men had sex with his daughters, one of whom was just 12 at the time, per the affidavit. Bateman later commented that the girls had "sacrificed their virtue for the Lord," adding, "God will fix their bodies and put the membrane back in their body. I've never had more confidence in doing his will. It's all out of love." In late 2020, Bateman allegedly drove to the Colorado City couple's home "in a large SUV packed with women and girls," and "introduced everyone as his wives." According to Agent Martin, the youngest of his so-called "wives" was a girl born in 2011. The affidavit also noted how Bateman owned two Bentleys, albeit his wives traveled rather modestly.

According to CBS 5, the cult leader's initial encounter with police happened in August, when he was reportedly pulled over by a state trooper in northern Arizona while towing a box trailer "full of people including children." The trooper stopped him after noticing "children's small fingers moving in the gap of the rear trailer door," per a police statement. There were reportedly three girls in the trailer, aged between 11 and 14, along with a couch, camper chairs and a toilet made from a bucket. Meanwhile, Bateman was in driving the SUV towing the trailer, alongside two women and two girls under the age of 15. He was eventually arrested and charged locally with three counts of child abuse.

According to federal prosecutors, while he was held on the aforementioned charges in the Coconino County Jail in Flagstaff, Bateman spoke to his supporters in Colorado City and instructed them to wipe messages exchanged on the encrypted messaging app Signal. He also demanded all women and girls obtain passports, per the report. Bateman was able to post bond on the local charges, but was slapped with a federal indictment just weeks later charging him with three counts of destroying or attempting to destroy records and tampering with criminal proceedings, citing his instructions to his followers. He pleaded not guilty to the new charges in the US Magistrate Court in Flagstaff.

In September, federal prosecutor Patrick Schneider said that Bateman's children had been removed by the state child welfare agency from his home in Colorado City, where the FBI had recently served a search warrant. While the perp hasn't been charged with sex crimes against minors as yet, the new FBI affidavit said the agency has probable cause to believe he and others trafficked minors between Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Nebraska to engage in illicit sexual conduct between May 2020 and November 2021. 

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Bateman was a former member of the FLDS but left in recent years to start his own splinter group. Sam Brower, who has spent years investigating the group, said they still practiced plural marriage albeit with a small following of fewer than 100 people.  US Magistrate Judge Camille Bibles ordered that Bateman was remanded in custody while the case moves through the courts. The judge noted that the perp was a pilot and survivalist who had followers and international connections who might help him financially or with other resources at a moment's notice. She also expressed concerns about the young girls in vulnerable positions. "Courts have a tremendous interest in protecting people who can't protect themselves," the judge said.