FBI: Arizona polygamist leader had 20 wives, including his own child.
According to an affidavit filed by the FBI, one of Samuel Rappylee Bateman’s claimed spouses was his daughter, who was nine years old at the time.
According to multiple news outlets and an affidavit filed by the FBI in the Eastern District of Washington, the leader of a polygamist cult-like offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is suspected of having more than 20 wives, some of whom were minors. The affidavit was filed in the court of the Eastern District of Washington.
According to the affidavit that was acquired by the Washington Post, Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 46, is accused of counting children as some of his wives. Among those children is at least one of his own daughters, who he reportedly classified as one of his wives.
According to an affidavit obtained by the FBI, which was published by the Washington Post, he is accused of participating in “group sex” with some of the kids, which included witnessing other males sexually abuse and attack girls as young as 12.
According to allegations from the Salt Lake Tribune, authorities went to Bateman’s house in Arizona early this year and took many minor females, ranging in age from 11 to 16 years old, who were living there.
The girls were taken into custody by the state department of child services and sent to several different group homes. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, however, eight girls were reported missing after they were taken from their homes. The previous week, they were discovered in front of an Airbnb in Spokane, Washington. It is unknown where they are now located at this time.
According to the Washington Post, a woman who worked to help Bateman’s followers escape the sect allegedly told investigators that on one occasion in 2020, Bateman arrived at her home in an SUV full of young female followers whom he introduced as his wives, including a girl around the age of nine. This information was allegedly provided by the woman who worked to help Bateman’s followers escape the sect.
According to an affidavit filed by the FBI, the Salt Lake Tribune reports that Bateman was also allegedly caught on audio recording saying that God had instructed him to “give the most precious thing he has, his girls’ virtue,” to a handful of adult men while he watched. This statement was allegedly made while Bateman was watching.
It is also said that he stated, “God will restore their bodies and place the membrane back where it belongs inside of them. I’ve never before had such complete faith in carrying out his wishes. All of this is done out of love.”
Do you want to stay up to date with the most recent crime coverage? Sign up for the free True Crime newsletter offered by PEOPLE to get the latest breaking crime news, coverage of current trials, and information on interesting unsolved cases.
According to the sources, Bateman spent his childhood as a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which is a polygamist offshoot of the mainstream Church. However, he later founded his own religious group.
According to a number of different sites, in 2019 he apparently started investigating polygamy. According to the affidavit filed by the FBI, Bateman allegedly informed his daughter, who was 14 at the time, that he intended to have a child with her and make her his wife when the two were travelling in a vehicle together in the same year. At the same time, he allegedly handed her fifty dollars and a bag of Doritos, both of which the girl apparently saw as “bribes” to get her to say what he wanted her to say.
After some time, the young woman, who had been shaken up by what her father had stated, divulged information to authorities about the purported discussion that had taken place in the automobile. Shortly thereafter, the woman who had been married to Bateman at the time removed their daughter from the residence and obtained a restraining order against her husband.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, which reviewed the arrest warrant for Bateman, federal agents raided his home in Arizona in September looking for evidence of marriages or sexual encounters between minors and adults. As a result, Bateman has been incarcerated since that time.
In Arizona, the religious leader has been accused of committing three separate acts of child abuse. It is alleged that he removed some electronic communications from his cell phone, which resulted in him being charged with a separate crime of evidence destruction. According to reports, he is not currently facing any charges related to the alleged sexual abuse of others.
It is unknown if he has filed a plea to the accusations that have been brought against him, and Bateman’s attorneys could not be contacted for quick comment.
