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The FBI filed an affidavit against Samuel Bateman, a polygamist Arizona cult leader, on December 2, 2022. Bateman is accused of marrying at least 20 women, many of whom are minors.
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of underaged marriages, and inappropriate relationships with minors, which may be triggering to certain readers. Discretion is advised.
The New York Post reported that Bateman is believed to run a splinter group, previously associated with the Mormon Fundementalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. As per the affidavit, 46-year-old Samuel Bateman has been under the custody of Arizona authorities since September. At the time, he was arrested under the suspicion of having married numerous minors.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that among the accusations made against Bateman, some include the fact that many of his wives are below the age of 15. It was also reported that the youngest among these was a 9-year-old. One of the underaged wives is suspected to be his own daughter.
Samuel Bateman was a former follower of Warren James
Local outlets reported that Samuel Bateman was formerly a follower of Warren Jeffs. Jeffs was the 67-year-old Mormon leader within the polygamous denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement.
FBI Special Agent Dawn A. Martin reported that in 2019, Bateman had a falling out with Jeffs as the former began to claim that he was a prophet. Soon after, he reportedly gained 50 followers, and married 20 women and young girls.
As per the Associated Press, authorities began investigating Bateman in 2019, after family members accused him of planning to marry his teenage daughter. Arizona Central reported that on August 28, 2022, he was arrested by the Arizona Department of Public Safety. He was pulled over because one of his trailers was towing a trailer with a girls riding inside it.
After a probe was launched into the alleged activities of the cult leader, the FBI began to suspect that he had been trafficking minor girls to his followers across state lines. They believed that he was transporting them across Utah, Nevada, Nebraska and Arizona.
According to audio recordings from November 2021, Samuel Bateman allegedly said that he had sent his underaged wives to carry out inappropriate relationships with his adult followers. He claimed that he had been told to do so by God.
As per some November 2021 audio recordings, Samuel Bateman was allegedly captured saying that he had sent his underaged wives to carry out inappropriate relationships with his adult followers, claiming that he was told to do so by God.
US Magistrate judge Camille Bibles said that Bateman would remain under State Custody during the course of the investigation. This was primarily as a means of protecting his underaged wives from any potential danger.
Bibles said that the courts have a "tremendous interest" in protecting those who can't do it themselves.
On September 14, 2022, eight of Bateman's underaged wives were taken to a group home. KXLY stated that a 19-year-old Bateman follower, Moretta Rose, illegally took the girls from the state institution to an AirBnB in Spokane, Washington.
Authorities have accused Rose and another 24-year-old alleged Bateman follower of kidnapping. It is unknown whether or not Bateman himself had any role to play in the incident, but the FBI believes he was illegally communicating with his followers while in prison.
