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Polygamous cult leader accused of having 20 wives, many underage

Mugshot of Samuel Bateman.
Mugshot of Samuel Bateman. Photo by Coconino County Sheriff's Office

A polygamous cult leader in Arizona has been accused of marrying more than 20 females, most of them under the age of 15, and one of them is reportedly his daughter.

Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 46, but has been held in an Arizona jail since the FBI raided his two Colorado City, Ariz., homes in September, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

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Bateman leads a branch of the Mormon Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, where he was raised as a member.

He “began to proclaim he was a prophet” in 2019, the year he felt prompted to take his own teenager daughter as his wife, Bateman’s family told investigators.

By the following spring, Bateman began gathering young women, then girls, and then the adult wives of his male followers as his own wives.

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The majority of his wives are daughters, sisters and mothers from two extended polygamous families.

He now has “approximately 50 followers and more than 20 wives, many of whom are minors, mostly under the age of 15,” according to an FBI affidavit obtained by the Tribune.

The FBI was provided audio recordings of a November 2021 conversation in which Bateman said “Heavenly Father” had instructed him to “give the most precious thing he has, his girls’ virtue,” to three of his adult male followers.

He then allegedly watched the three men have sex with his daughters, one of whom was only 12 years old, according to the court document.

Family and followers of Samuel Bateman gather around as he calls from police custody following his arrest in Colorado City, Ariz., on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)
Family and followers of Samuel Bateman gather around as he calls from police custody following his arrest in Colorado City, Ariz., on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP) Photo by Trent Nelson /The Salt Lake Tribune via AP

Bateman allegedly went on to say his daughters had “sacrificed their virtue for the Lord” and that “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 quotes Bateman as saying.

Eight girls were removed from Bateman’s home by the Arizona Department of Child Safety last Thursday, according to the outlet.

They were placed in group homes in the suburbs of Phoenix, but vanished on Sunday.

Bateman faces charges of incest, group sex acts involving adults and children — some as young as nine — and child sex trafficking.

He has not been charged with sexual abuse but the affidavit claims the FBI has probable cause to believe he and others transported minors between Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Nebraska to engage in illicit sexual conduct between May 2020 and November 2021.

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