Religious ‘prophet’ had 10 child ‘brides’ and forced girls into sex acts, feds say
A self-proclaimed religious “prophet” declared 20 women and children as his “wives” while leading a yearslong sexual abuse ring, according to federal prosecutors.
Now he’ll spend the next five decades behind bars.
Samuel Rappylee Bateman took 10 child “brides,” some as young as 9, and regularly raped them, court documents say. His followers, the girls’ fathers, allowed this abuse, according to prosecutors.
Bateman grew a following in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska in 2019 by holding himself out as the new “prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamist subset of the Mormon church, according to court documents.
In 2012, FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs was sentenced to prison in connection with sexually abusing children, prosecutors said. Jeffs’ criminal case is the focus of the 2022 Netflix documentary “Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey.”
According to prosecutors, Bateman “controlled every aspect” of his child “brides’” lives and forced them into group sex acts with other adults and children.
After Bateman’s arrest in September 2022, he came up with a plan to have the girls kidnapped from Arizona Department of Child Safety custody, according to prosecutors.
Eight of the girls were abducted by his co-conspirators before law enforcement rescued them, prosecutors said.
A judge has sentenced Bateman, 48, of Colorado City, Arizona, to 50 years in prison on charges of a conspiracy to commit transportation of a minor for criminal sexual activity and a conspiracy to commit kidnapping, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said in a Dec. 10 news release. Colorado City, near the Utah border, is about a 370-mile drive northwest from Phoenix.
Bateman was expressionless in the courtroom when his minor victims and followers spoke at his sentencing on Dec. 9, The Arizona Republic reported.
“Sam, you have no power over me,” one girl who was abused by Bateman said, according to the newspaper. ”I hope you feel the pain you caused me as you sit rotting in your cell.”
Bateman pleaded guilty in the case on April 1, according to prosecutors.
His defense attorney, Brian Frederick Russo, didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Dec. 11.
Women and girls treated ‘like property’
Though Bateman tried to convince others he was the new FLDS prophet, he and his co-conspirators preached ideas that didn’t align with FLDS teachings to “justify” abuse, prosecutors wrote in court filings.
This included Bateman pushing the idea of self-revelation – that a person could call on God directly for answers instead of “receiving God’s will through the prophet,” according to a sentencing memo.
Bateman was a follower of Jeffs, who denounced him from prison, the Associated Press reported.
Before growing his following, Bateman traveled to Canada In February 2019, when he tried to preach his ideas and wanted to marry his 13-year-old daughter, prosecutors said.
Batement wanted to “have a baby with her,” according to the sentencing memorandum, which says his wife at the time “immediately divorced (him), obtained a restraining order against him, and protected her daughter.”
Bateman went on to travel between Lincoln, Nebraska; Cedar City, Utah; Monument, Colorado; and Colorado City, Arizona, to grow his following and claim “wives,” according to his plea agreement.
One man gave five of his minor daughters and a step-daughter to Bateman as “brides,” prosecutors said.
None of the marriages were legally official, according to prosecutors.
In the sentencing memo, prosecutors detailed how “the young victims were made to sleep naked every night, whether it was in bed with (Bateman) or on the floor around his bed.”
“He would choose a couple of girls to sleep with him each night, which meant they had to have sex with him,” prosecutors wrote.
Bateman controlled every part of the girls’ day, according to prosecutors, who said he made them sing to him each night, had them prepare his meals and his baths, and had them “confess minor infractions.”
The women and girls were traded “like property” with other men, the sentencing memo says.
Bateman transported the girls through different states to “facilitate the sexual abuse,” which ended in September 2022, when he was arrested on a child endangerment charge, according to prosecutors.
A few months later, Bateman schemed to kidnap the girls from their child custody placements in Arizona, resulting in eight of them being abducted to California, and then Washington, prosecutors said.
The girls were brought back to Arizona by law enforcement, according to prosecutors.
‘You should not have the opportunity to be free’
Eleven of Bateman’s adult followers have been convicted in connection with the child sexual abuse ring, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Multiple followers of Bateman have been sentenced, according to prosecutors, who said a few others will be sentenced within the next several months.
“The amount of harm you caused is nothing short of unmeasurable,” U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich told Bateman at his sentencing, The Arizona Republic reported.
A psychiatrist who evaluated Bateman determined he’s “mentally ill” and “delusional,” his legal counsel, Russo, wrote in a court filing. He asked the court to sentence Bateman to 20 years in prison.
According to Russo, the psychiatrist suggested Bateman was indoctrinated into believing “criminal” behavior was normal during his upbringing.
Bateman will serve his prison sentence until he’s 98, according to prosecutors.
“You should not have the opportunity to be free and never have the opportunity to be around young women,” Brnovich told Bateman in court, according to the Associated Press.
FBI Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Jose A. Perez said in a statement that Bateman’s “sentencing brings some closure to the victims with hopes they can confidently continue the long road to living normal lives with trusted and loving adults surrounding them.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2024 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Religious ‘prophet’ had 10 child ‘brides’ and forced girls into sex acts, feds say."
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