A Bentley -driving "Mormon prophet" is accused of having 20 wives, some as young as nine.
Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 46, from Arizona, was arrested in September after he was allegedly caught transporting underage girls inside a trailer which had just one sofa and a bucket for a toilet.
The FBI revealed on Friday the suspect is accused of 'marrying' up to 20 women along with girls as young as nine.
He is facing sickening allegations of group sex acts involving adults and underage children, sex trafficking and incest.
The 46-year-old is a polygamist cult leader of the Mormon offshoot Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
The former leader, convicted rapist Warren Jeffs, 67, had even distanced himself from Bateman after his extreme views.
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Coconino County Court Records)Image:
Getty Images)According to FBI Agent Dawn A. Martin, Bateman "began to proclaim he was a prophet" and outlined his desire to marry his own teenage daughter in 2019.
She added the suspect has "approximately 50 followers and more than 20 wives, many of whom are minors, mostly under the age of 15."
The evidence against him also includes recordings of Bateman talking to a couple in Colorado City, Arizona, who were filming a documentary.
He told the pair that "Heavenly Father" ordered him in November 2021 to "give the most precious thing he has, his girls' virtue" to his three adult male followers.
Bateman, according to court documents, allegedly watched the three men have sex with his daughters - one of them just 12 years old.
He allegedly said his girls "sacrificed their virtue for the Lord" and "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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Coconino County Court Records)And in 2020, the suspect drove to the couple's home in Colorado "in a large SUV packed with women and girls,' where he "introduced" everyone as his wives."
The FBI said his youngest "wife" was a girl of just nine as they alleged Bateman drove around in a Bentley whilst his victims travelled in horrific conditions.
Police said when Bateman was pulled over there were three young girls in the trailer, between the ages of 11 and 14, along with a toilet bucket, deck chairs and a sofa.
The suspect, who was towing the trailer with his SUV, was with two women and two girls under the age of 15.
According to federal prosecutor Patrick Schneider, the children were removed from Bateman's home in September after the FBI served a search warrant.
Bateman was later arrested and charged locally with three counts of child abuse.
The suspect's lawyer, Adam Zickerman, said he was not a danger to the community.
However, U.S. Magistrate Judge Camille Bibles ordered Bateman to remain in custody whilst he is investigated amid concerns he would contact the vunlerable girls.
She said: "Courts have a tremendous interest in protecting people who can't protect themselves."
Bateman pleaded not guilty in U.S. Magistrate Court in Flagstaff.
