Sam Bateman had sexual chats with youngsters from jail: Feds

Accused polygamous cult chief Sam Bateman (Screenshot by way of Regulation&Crime Community)

Polygamous cult chief Sam Bateman, a self-proclaimed prophet awaiting trial on kidnapping and different prices, “openly” used the jailhouse telephone system to “interact in sexual discussions with youngsters,” federal prosecutors allege.

One of many women, recognized in courtroom papers as “Jane Doe 4,” is a 13-year-old he allegedly conspired to kidnap, courtroom papers say.

“All these sacred instances”

In the course of the Nov. 26 dialog, Bateman positioned a video name with “some” of his grownup wives, and “Jane Doe 4” had been on the opposite line within the custody of Arizona’s Division of Youngster Security. Prosecutors say that Bateman then spoke to the teenager, referring to her as his “attractive darling” and making profane sexual remarks about her breasts and his need to sexually abuse her.

“Don’t you bear in mind all these sacred instances we spent collectively?” Bateman is quoted telling the woman.

The dialog violated a Superior Court docket’s order barring Bateman from all contact with “Jane Doe 4,” a listed sufferer in a toddler abuse case in Arizona’s Coconino County, prosecutors say.

Bateman allegedly made the identical obscene and vulgar sexual remarks to 16-year-old sufferer “Jane Doe 10.”

In 2019, Bateman declared himself a prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), a sect whose adherents apply polygamy. The federal government estimates that Bateman has roughly 50 followers and greater than 20 wives, 9 of whom are minors between the ages of 12 and 16.

“Bateman allegedly has ‘impressions of Heavenly Father’s will’ to encourage his followers, together with the minor youngsters, to interact in sexual acts and depends on that submission to do his personal will,” prosecutors wrote on March 3. “Bateman is a topic in a federal investigation into the transportation of minors in interstate commerce to interact in felony sexual exercise, and journey in interstate commerce to interact in illicit sexual conduct with minors, starting round Could 2020.”

Bateman has been stored in detention since he was charged in mid-September with making an attempt to hinder justice. A subsequent indictment accused him and three of his grownup wives — Naomi Bistline, Donnae Barlow, and Moretta Rose Johnson — with further obstruction-related counts and a federal kidnapping cost. Prosecutors signaled that one other charging doc might be imminent in opposition to him and others.

Initially slated to face trial final November, Bateman’s reckoning has been adjourned a number of instances and was lately pushed again one other 12 months, till March 5, 2024.