A polygamous leader accused of kidnapping underage girls “openly” used the jailhouse phone system to have “explicit sexual conversations” with children, a federal filing states.
While in custody last November on suspicion of sex trafficking, Samuel Rappylee Bateman referred to a 13-year-old girl as his “sexy darling” during a video call that included his adult wives, the US Attorney in Arizona alleged in documents filed on March 3.
Bateman, 46, also asked the young teen, identified as Jane Doe 4, about “all of the sacred times” they shared together, along with more explicit sexual remarks.
The accused child trafficker also reportedly made similarly vulgar remarks throughout the same call to 2 16-year-olds referred to as Jane Doe 10 and Jane Doe 11, the document claims.
On the time of the phone call, Bateman was barred from contacting Jane Doe 4, who’s a named victim in the continuing child abuse case against him.
The religious leader is a self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), an offshoot of Mormonism that practices polygamy.
After he was arrested last 12 months, an FBI affidavit reported that the vast majority of his 20 wives were under 15 years old.
Meanwhile, on the identical day because the alleged illicit jailhouse conversations, Bateman also ordered his wives to send intimidating messages to a government witness from outside the community,” the feds said.
“Tell her that she picked the flawed religion to hate. K?” Bateman reportedly instructed the ladies.
A number of days later, the federal government counsel successfully petitioned to curtail Bateman’s communication with everyone, excluding his lawyers.
As of this week, those restrictions remain in place.
Bateman, of Colorado City, was arrested in Aug. 2022 when authorities found three underage girls locked inside a trailer he was towing near Flagstaff.
A raid of his two properties then unearthed evidence of incest, group sexual intercourse involving each adults and minors, and child sex trafficking.
Several of Bateman’s underage “wives” were subsequently taken into custody by the Arizona Department of Child Services (DCS).
By early December, three of his adult wives were charged with kidnapping after they absconded with eight of the youngsters to an AirBnB in Washington state.
Bateman has pleaded not guilty to federal kidnapping and evidence tampering charges.
He’s being held without bond while awaiting trial on all counts, which is ready to start in March 2024.
The case against Bateman is a component of an ongoing federal crackdown on the FLDA strongholds in Colorado City and nearby Hildale, Utah.
Bateman was previously a follower of Warren Jeffs, the infamous, self-appointed prophet currently serving life in prison for child sex abuse.
“It’s not right, but [Warren Jeffs] was marrying 12-year-olds and I used to be told that [these women] were my mom, and so they weren’t even that much older than me,” Jeffs’ son, Wendell Jeffson, said of underage marriage on the FLDS compound.