The Bentley-driving Mormon ‘prophet’ with 20 wives including some as young as nine is so extreme in his views that he even repulsed notorious child rapist Warren Jeffs.
According to a newly-filed FBI affidavit, Jeffs recently denounced Samuel Rappylee Bateman in a letter to his followers within the church.
Bateman has been charged on multiple counts of child abuse for allegedly keeping 20 wives, including girls as young as nine.
He remains in custody in Washington, but was arrested for crimes in Arizona.
Bateman leads a splinter group of the radical Mormon offshoot Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS.
Notorious child rapist Warren Jeffs, left with one of his victims, remains in prison on his own child abuse charges. He recently denounced Samuel Rappylee Bateman from the church, telling followers Bateman was too ‘extreme’
Jeffs, 67, is still in prison for crimes.
He served as the president of FLDS from 2002 until 2004, when he was hit with the first of a long list of charges relating to his treatment of children.
Samuel Rappylee Bateman is accused of having multiple wives, including some as young as nine
Not only did he marry children himself, but he also orchestrated arranged marriages between adults in the church and kids.
It’s unclear if Bateman’s attitude towards young girls was what repulsed him enough for Jeffs to denounce him.
Bateman, 46, was arrested earlier this year on obstruction charges but new legal filings over recent weeks have revealed how grotesque his alleged abuse of children has been.
FBI Agent Dawn A. Martin, citing witness statements, writes in the filing that Bateman ‘began to proclaim he was a prophet’ and declared his intention to marry his own teenage daughter in 2019.
The affidavit states that Bateman has since gathered ‘approximately 50 followers and more than 20 wives, many of whom are minors, mostly under the age of 15.’
Two women and two girls were in the SUV and three girls were in the trailer, court records said
The squalid trailer where Bateman’s wives were found. He remains in custody
Evidence cited in the affidavit includes recordings of Bateman himself, speaking to a couple in Colorado City, Arizona, who do outreach to the polygamy community there and are filming a documentary.
In one example cited in the document, Bateman told the couple that ‘Heavenly Father’ had instructed him in early November 2021 to ‘give the most precious thing he has, his girls’ virtue,’ to three of his adult male followers.
Bateman then allegedly watched as the three men had sex with his daughters, one of whom was just 12, according to the affidavit.
Bateman allegedly commented that the girls had ‘sacrificed their virtue for the Lord,’ and went on to say: ‘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.’
The affidavit further alleges that in late 2020, Bateman drove to the Colorado City couple’s home ‘in a large SUV packed with women and girls,’ where he ‘introduced everyone as his wives.’
The youngest of the so-called ‘wives’ was a girl born in 2011, Agent Martin wrote, meaning the girl would have been nine at the oldest.
FBI agents raid the home of Samuel Rappylee Bateman in Colorado City, Arizona on September 13
The affidavit also notes that Bateman owned two Bentleys, though it seems his ‘wives’ traveled in less style.
Bateman’s initial encounter with the law came in August, when he was pulled over by a state trooper in northern Arizona towing a box trailer ‘full of people including children,’ according to AZFamily.com.
The trooper saw ‘children’s small fingers moving in the gap of the rear trailer door’ as he pulled up behind the trailer, according to a police statement.
Police said there were three girls in the trailer, all between the ages of 11 and 14 years old, along with a couch, camper chairs, and a toilet made from a bucket. With Bateman in the SUV towing the trailer were two women and two girls under the age of 15.
Three girls embrace before they are removed from the home of Samuel Bateman, following his arrest in Colorado City, Arizona, on September 14. Seven were removed from the Bateman home, as well as two others from another house
Family and followers of Samuel Bateman gather around as he calls from police custody following his arrest in Colorado City, Arizona on September 13
Bateman was later arrested and charged locally with three counts of child abuse.
Federal prosecutors say that while he was being held in the Coconino County Jail in Flagstaff on those local charged, he talked to his supporters in Colorado City and instructed them to delete communications sent through the encrypted messaging app Signal, and demanded all women and girls obtain passports.
Bateman posted bond on the state charges, but weeks later he was hit with a federal indictment charging him with three counts of destroying or attempting to destroy records, and tampering with criminal proceedings, in reference to his instructions to his followers.
He pleaded not guilty in U.S. Magistrate Court in Flagstaff
Federal prosecutor Patrick Schneider said in September that the state child welfare agency had removed children from Bateman’s home in Colorado City, where the FBI had recently served a search warrant.
Bateman has not been charged with sex crimes against children, though the new FBI affidavit said the FBI has probable cause to believe he and others transported minors between Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Nebraska to engage in illicit sexual conduct between May 2020 and November 2021.
Bateman is apparently so extreme that he has been denounced even by former FLDS leader Warren Jeffs (above), a convicted child rapist
