Samuel Rappylee Bateman, a self-proclaimed prophet in Arizona who had more than 20 wives, including minors, is accused of trying to intimidate a government witness and using a jail phone to have “explicit sexual conversations” with children, according to federal court, reported NBC News.
Prosecutors allege that Bateman repeatedly misused his phone privileges at Core Civic/Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex after he was arrested in September on charges of destroying records linked to a federal investigation.
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During a conversation on November 26, Bateman called a 13-year-old girl identified only as Jane Doe 4 a “sexy girl” and asked if she remembered their sacred times together, as per the documents. Bateman also had inappropriate conversations with a 16-year-old girl identified as jane Doe 11, according to the filing.
Bateman was restricted from communicating with Jane Doe 4 because she was a victim in a Coconino County child abuse case.
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Who is Samuel Rappylee Bateman?
Samuel Rappylee Bateman is the leader of a branch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He is a polygamous cult leader in Arizona and reportedly had 20 wives, some as young as nine, married his own daughter, and traveled with his wives in a trailer equipped with a bucket toilet.
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He is facing charges for doing the sex trafficking of minor girls between Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Nebraska. Bateman is in jail after US Magistrate Judge Camille Bibles ordered to keep him behind bars until his case gets close with a final decision on punishments.
Bateman is 46 years old. A Facebook account that appears to be Samuel stated that he completed his education earlier at Mohave Community College, according to Newsunzip.
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Being in arrest details of Samuel Bateman’s family, parents and siblings have been kept private by FBI officials. After his arrest, the minor girls Bateman considered to be his wives were placed in the custody of the Arizona Department of Child Services. Allegedly, he made calls from jail to his adult wives to orchestrate the escape of eight of the girls. They were eventually tracked to an Airbnb in Washington.