The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Samuel Bateman, a self-appointed “prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — a polygamist subset of the Mormon church, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit transportation of a minor for criminal sexual activity and a conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Bateman was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
The United States Attorney’s Office: District of Arizona reports:
Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 48, of Colorado City, was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Susan M. Brnovich to 50 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release. On April 1, 2024, Bateman pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Transportation of a Minor for Criminal Sexual Activity and Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping.
“Protecting the most vulnerable is our highest calling as prosecutors,” said United States Attorney Gary Restaino. “Many thanks to our dedicated prosecutors and law enforcement colleagues for an expeditious investigation, and to our victim advocates for their focus on services and healing.”
“Every child should feel and be safe in their homes,” said FBI Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Jose A. Perez. “Today’s sentencing brings some closure to the victims with hopes they can confidently continue the long road to living normal lives with trusted and loving adults surrounding them. Protecting our most vulnerable populations, with children at the top of the list, is and will continue to be a high priority for the FBI and our partners.”
Bateman, who represented himself as a religious prophet, was the leader of a years-long child sexual abuse conspiracy that spanned several states and victimized at least 10 children. Beginning in 2019, Bateman amassed followers in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska. In 2020 and 2021, Bateman’s followers gave their minor daughters and wards to him as child “brides” to sexually abuse. The victims were as young as nine years old. Through coercion and manipulation, Bateman regularly forced his victims to participate with him in individual and group sexual activities with adults and other children. He gave one of the victims to an adult male follower to be sexually abused, and on another occasion transmitted a live video stream of child sexual abuse to his followers. Bateman and others transported the victims between states to facilitate the sexual abuse, which continued until Bateman’s arrest on federal charges in September 2022.
Following Bateman’s arrest, his child victims were placed in the legal and physical custody of the Arizona Department of Child Safety. In November 2022, Bateman conspired with some of his followers to kidnap the victims from their custody placements. The conspirators succeeded in taking eight of the girls to California and then to Washington, where they were found by law enforcement and returned to Arizona.
Bateman was charged along with 11 of his adult followers, all of whom have also been convicted of charges related to the child sexual abuse conspiracy. Two of Bateman’s co-defendants were convicted at trial by a jury, and the others were convicted by guilty plea. Several other defendants have already been sentenced, and the remaining defendants will be sentenced in the coming months.
Samuel Rappylee Bateman took 10 child “brides,” some as young as 9, and regularly raped them, court documents say. His followers, the girls’ fathers, allowed this abuse, according to prosecutors. Bateman grew a following in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska in 2019 by holding himself out as the new “prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamist subset of the Mormon church, according to court documents.
In 2012, FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs was sentenced to prison in connection with sexually abusing children, prosecutors said. Jeffs’ criminal case is the focus of the 2022 Netflix documentary “Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey.” According to prosecutors, Bateman “controlled every aspect” of his child “brides’” lives and forced them into group sex acts with other adults and children.
After Bateman’s arrest in September 2022, he came up with a plan to have the girls kidnapped from Arizona Department of Child Safety custody, according to prosecutors. Eight of the girls were abducted by his co-conspirators before law enforcement rescued them, prosecutors said.
A judge has sentenced Bateman, 48, of Colorado City, Arizona, to 50 years in prison on charges of a conspiracy to commit transportation of a minor for criminal sexual activity and a conspiracy to commit kidnapping, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said in a Dec. 10 news release. Colorado City, near the Utah border, is about a 370-mile drive northwest from Phoenix.
Bateman was expressionless in the courtroom when his minor victims and followers spoke at his sentencing on Dec. 9, The Arizona Republic reported. “Sam, you have no power over me,” one girl who was abused by Bateman said, according to the newspaper. ”I hope you feel the pain you caused me as you sit rotting in your cell.”
Bateman was a follower of Jeffs, who denounced him from prison, the Associated Press reported. Before growing his following, Bateman traveled to Canada In February 2019, when he tried to preach his ideas and wanted to marry his 13-year-old daughter, prosecutors said. Batement wanted to “have a baby with her,” according to the sentencing memorandum, which says his wife at the time “immediately divorced (him), obtained a restraining order against him, and protected her daughter.” Bateman went on to travel between Lincoln, Nebraska; Cedar City, Utah; Monument, Colorado; and Colorado City, Arizona, to grow his following and claim “wives,” according to his plea agreement. One man gave five of his minor daughters and a step-daughter to Bateman as “brides,” prosecutors said.
None of the marriages were legally official, according to prosecutors. In the sentencing memo, prosecutors detailed how “the young victims were made to sleep naked every night, whether it was in bed with (Bateman) or on the floor around his bed.” “He would choose a couple of girls to sleep with him each night, which meant they had to have sex with him,” prosecutors wrote. Bateman controlled every part of the girls’ day, according to prosecutors, who said he made them sing to him each night, had them prepare his meals and his baths, and had them “confess minor infractions.”
The women and girls were traded “like property” with other men, the sentencing memo says. Bateman transported the girls through different states to “facilitate the sexual abuse,” which ended in September 2022, when he was arrested on a child endangerment charge, according to prosecutors. A few months later, Bateman schemed to kidnap the girls from their child custody placements in Arizona, resulting in eight of them being abducted to California, and then Washington, prosecutors said. The girls were brought back to Arizona by law enforcement, according to prosecutors.
Eleven of Bateman’s adult followers have been convicted in connection with the child sexual abuse ring, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Multiple followers of Bateman have been sentenced, according to prosecutors, who said a few others will be sentenced within the next several months. “The amount of harm you caused is nothing short of unmeasurable,” U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich told Bateman at his sentencing,
The Arizona Republic reported. A psychiatrist who evaluated Bateman determined he’s “mentally ill” and “delusional,” his legal counsel, Russo, wrote in a court filing. He asked the court to sentence Bateman to 20 years in prison. According to Russo, the psychiatrist suggested Bateman was indoctrinated into believing “criminal” behavior was normal during his upbringing. Bateman will serve his prison sentence until he’s 98, according to prosecutors. “You should not have the opportunity to be free and never have the opportunity to be around young women,” Brnovich told Bateman in court, according to the Associated Press.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.
