Samuel Rappylee Bateman proclaimed himself a prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) in 2019. That is also when he proclaimed a desire to impregnate his daughter, then only 14.
Bateman, who was raised FLDS under then-prophet Warren Jeffs, now sits at the CoreCivic’s Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex (CAFCC) awaiting trial for having sex with several “wives” he took when they were minors, including one who was only nine years old at the time.
Court records show a federal indictment alleges Bateman and 10 adult followers or co-conspirators committed a combined 56 offenses, 51 of which name Bateman as a defendant. The charges range from sexual activity with or in the presence of minors, kidnapping, witness tampering, and production of child pornography.
Bateman was recently approved by U.S. District Judge Susan M. Brnovich to represent himself at trial, although an advisory attorney was appointed by the judge.
No trial date has been set, but Bateman is currently in a separate battle with the U.S. Attorney’s Office over his alleged frequent misuse of communications systems at CAFCC.
Many of the charges against Bateman involve offenses purportedly committed while in detention. As a result, a special process has been established to review Bateman’s various communications to ensure he is not committing new crimes, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dimitra Sampson advised Brnovich on July 19.
Sampson detailed for Brnovich how Bateman has used communications access to allegedly “obstruct justice and commit additional crimes.” She explained that Bateman has engaged in such acts “regardless of which facility has housed him.”
According to Sampson, Bateman was detained in the Coconino County jail for five days last year after being arrested on state child endangerment charges.
“He made phone calls from the Coconino County Jail directing his followers to ‘delete my Signal account now, the whole thing, delete every message, right now,’” Sampson noted.
Bateman was transferred in mid-September to CAFCC after being charged with dozens of federal offenses.
Since then, he is accused of using jail communication device s to direct witness intimidation and influence potential testimony, as well as engage in what Sampson described as “explicit sexual conversations through three-way conversations facilitated by his adult ‘wives’ with the child victims in this case.”
One such victim was 13 years old and in custody of the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) at the time, Sampson wrote.
Bateman is also accused of taking part in numerous recorded video calls at CAFCC over the next several weeks to conspire with others to kidnap eight girls from their DCS placements. Bateman considered those girls his “wives.”
After the girls were taken, Sampson alleges Bateman took part in a Nov. 28 video call during which the camera “panned to all eight minors taken from DCS custody.” Other court filings allege the eight missing girls were at an Airbnb in Spokane paid for by one of Bateman’s followers.
All eight missing girls were located in Spokane in a vehicle driven by Moretta Rose Johson, who is now one of Bateman’s co-defendants.
CAFCC severely restricted Bateman’s phone, videophone, mail, and email access the day after the video call. But Sampson outlines in the July 19 filing the steps Bateman took to circumvent those restrictions, such as using the PIN number of another CAFCC detainee to make calls.
Bateman was also able to receive emails (more than 30 from a co-conspirator on one day in March) by having the senders create or use email addresses not on Bateman’s “blocked” list, the filing explains.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office entered into a stipulation with Bateman and CAFCC in early March to allow the defendant to communicate with his three sons via writing and video, as they were not named in the indictment. He was also allowed to write to other individuals who were not victims or co-defendants.
The restrictions were further loosened later that month to permit one-hour video visits three times a week with six specific females, provided the visits be limited to only one person at a time. But it did not take long for Bateman to use his limited communications options to direct others to obstruct justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges.
“Within days of the formal entry of the stipulation, Bateman had violated it,” Sampson advised Brnovich, adding that one son recorded his phone calls with Bateman and then played them for Bateman’s self-described wives.
During a March 22 recorded call, Bateman is heard instructing one son to file charges against a specific witness. He also discussed with the son the need to find someone to file an ethics complaint against one of the federal judges who handled part of Bateman’s case, according to Sampson.
Bateman allegedly undertook additional efforts over the next few weeks to continue circumventing the phone and mail restrictions.
On June 13, Brnovich warned Bateman that because he opted to represent himself, the only person eligible as a “legal” visitor or correspondent was Eugene Marquez, Bateman’s court-appointed attorney who previously served as the Cochise County Public Defender.
One month later, the U.S. Attorney’s Office put Bateman on notice that its staff intends to continue obtaining and reviewing any communication recorded by CAFCC that does not include Marquez. The problem, Sampson conceded, is that Bateman has the right to engage “in strategy discussions with witnesses, investigators, and experts.”
As a result, assistant U.S. attorneys and investigators who are not assigned to the government’s trial team will handle the review of those other communications.
“If the non-trial AUSAs and investigators find material that should be disclosed
to the trial team –for example, because it evidences the commission of additional crimes, threats, obstruction, or is inculpatory of those crimes already charged– they will apply to the Court for permission to disclose those communications to the trial team,” Sampson advised the judge and Bateman.
According to court documents, Bateman had FLDS followers in various cities, including Lincoln, Nebraska; Cedar City, Utah; Monument, Colorado; and Colorado City, Arizona. He is believed to have taken at least 20 wives, half of whom were minors.
One Nebraska girl was allegedly “given” by her father to Bateman when only age 9. The same father consented to the marriage of six other minor-aged daughters, all age 14 or under, with Bateman.
Two adult daughters as well the mother of some of the Nebraska girls are also believed to have engaged in sex with Bateman although it is unclear if they were considered his wives.
By March 2021, Bateman had gathered most of his followers in Colorado City where he resided until his arrest in September 2022.
READ MORE:
Polygamist And Followers Charged With Illicit Sexual Conduct With Minors