Polygamist 'Mormon prophet' had 20 wives and offered his daughter, 14, a bag of Doritos and $50 bribe to marry him
7 December 2022, 10:26
The leader of an Arizona-based polygamist cult attempted to bribe his own 14-year-old daughter into marrying him with two bags of Doritos, $50 and airplane tickets.
The shocking allegations against Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 46, came in a new FBI affidavit after he was arrested after being pulled over by cops while transporting underage girls inside a squalid trailer furnished with a couch and a bucket for a toilet.
Bateman leads a splinter group of the radical Mormon offshoot Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS.
He was supported financially by male followers who also gave up their own wives and children to be Bateman’s wives, according to the FBI.
The court document provides new insight about what investigators have found in a case that first became public in August.
In 2019, Bateman was returning from a road trip to Canada with his 14-year-old daughter when he told her that he felt as though she was his wife.
The teen told advocates in 2020 that her father's words made her feel scared. While the pair were stopped at a gas station, Bateman gave his daughter two bags of Doritos, $50 and asked her type of car she would like to drive.
In the FBI documents, Special Agents Dawn A. Martin described that interaction as Bateman's attempt to bribe his daughter into marrying him.
Bateman later disclosed to his wife that he wanted to marry their daughter, which prompted his wife to leave with the child.
The recent 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.'
In one example cited in the document, Bateman said 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."
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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.
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.'
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.Bateman was later arrested and charged locally with three counts of child abuse.
Bateman was 46 in September when he was arrested following a separate indictment on charges of destroying records in a federal investigation.
The federal charges allege destruction of records or an attempt to destroy records in an official proceeding; tampering or attempting to tamper with an official proceeding; and destruction of records in a federal investigation, authorities have said.
That indictment alleges that on August 28, Bateman destroyed or attempted to destroy records, by deleting or aiding and abetting others to delete, electronic communications associated with Signal accounts, prosecutors said. Signal is an encrypted messaging application.
The indictment also alleged that Bateman did so in order to obstruct, influence, and impede an investigation and prosecution in federal court.
Bateman was using Signal to communicate with his wives and followers, prosecutors said.
Bateman has pleaded not guilty.
