Samuel Bateman, the self-styled FLDS ‘prophet’ who took 20 ‘wives’ — some as young as nine years old — was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for child sexual abuse, yet he continues to exert control over loyal followers from behind bars
Cult leader Samuel Bateman is serving 50 years behind bars after acquiring 20 “wives” – some as young as nine years old. Despite the depravity of his crimes, he continues to wield his sinister influence from his prison cell.
Indeed, some of his devoted followers have contended that incarceration has only amplified his authority; he is regarded as a “martyr” amongst his disciples, a notion he reinforces through his daily telephone conversations with his “wives”. Bateman’s ascent to power within the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has been chronicled in the hit Netflix series Trust Me: The False Prophet.
The series is constructed around remarkable footage captured in real time by cult researcher Christine Marie and her husband, videographer Tolga Katas as Bateman established a polygamous breakaway sect that facilitated child sexual abuse.
Their intimate access to Bateman’s inner circle furnished federal investigators with direct evidence of his conduct. This included a recording in late 2021 in which Bateman outlined what he termed an “Atonement” ceremony, which he claimed involved “giving away” his “wives” – nine of whom were minors – to his followers and commanding them to have sex while he observed.
Another filmed encounter shows a perspiring Bateman – donning an Elvis-style white leather jacket – lounging on a sofa, with his wives wearing 19th-century-style prairie dresses, doting on him, caressing his chest, giggling and addressing him as “King”, “Master” and “Father”. Bateman’s rise within the FLDS – a splinter group of the Mormon church – occurred following the conviction of its previous leader Warren Jeffs in 2011 for sexually assaulting two girls, resulting in a life sentence.
With no leadership hierarchy remaining, Bateman declared himself a prophet, claiming that Jeffs was now communicating through him, reports the Mirror. Disciples were urged to show their devotion through testimony, monetary donations, and in certain instances, by offering Bateman their daughters to become his “wives”.
Sexual abuse
“Through coercion and manipulation, Bateman regularly forced his victims to participate with him in individual and group sexual activities with adults and other children,” the Department of Justice said. “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.” Bateman was apprehended when authorities discovered him towing a trailer containing several women – and three young girls aged between 11 and 14.
Authorities were alerted after someone noticed tiny fingers poking through the door slats. The Netflix series concludes with Bateman’s arrest and subsequent sentencing.
Yet it also finishes with an unsettling warning: numerous adult wives continue to regard him as their prophet. It comes as no shock to psychotherapist Gillie Jenkinson, who has dedicated over 30 years to supporting former cult members.
Gillie was trapped in a cult herself during the 70s and subsequently established Hope Valley Counselling in 2006 to assist others in rebuilding their lives after escaping. Crucial for these twisted “leaders”, she explains, is “thought reform” – a technique identified by Robert Lifton which serves to dismantle a person’s identity and rebuild it according to the cult’s beliefs.
She told the Mirror: “Whether you’re born into it or whether you join it as an adult, they do a job on you with your identity, because you have to be the person they want you to be. They’re having to obey, comply, they’re terrified, and they’re, you know, submissive.
Total control
“And if they rebel, and show elements of something other than what’s expected, they get into big trouble. It’s cutting you off from the outside and the idea that so nobody else has the truth.
“No one else knows in the way we know. So we don’t need to listen to them.
“And it also includes cutting off communication with yourself. That internal conversation gets suppressed, and it’s a control of, so the leadership controls that internal communication.
“So you start monitoring yourself, this is doubt, doubt is a sin. So you can’t have an internal conversation with yourself.”
By establishing a system where people confess their sins, “followers start being way too open about what they’re thinking, which gives ammunition to the leadership. They only know because you’ve told them.
“But there’s also an internal confession where you reiterate how sinful and bad you are and so, you know, you do a job on yourself as well as internally and externally”.
Following Bateman’s arrest, the underage girls he had regarded as his ‘wives’ were taken from his care and placed under state protection. However, two months later, he plotted with some of his followers to abduct the children from protective custody.
“Explicit sexual conversations” with children
Eight of the girls subsequently vanished from foster care in Arizona, and were discovered hundreds of miles away in Washington state, in a vehicle driven by one of the adult “wives”. Bateman later confessed his role in the kidnapping scheme.
Moreover, he maintained his pattern of sexual abuse and control even following his arrest. While being detained at the Core Civic/Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex, he was accused of attempting to intimidate a government witness and using the jail phone to have “explicit sexual conversations” with children, federal court documents revealed.
During a chat on November 26, Bateman referred to a 13-year-old girl, known only as Jane Doe 4, as a “sexy darling” and asked if she recalled their “sacred times” together, the documents reveal. He also had inappropriate exchanges with a 16-year-old girl identified as Jane Doe 11, according to the filing.
“Despite Bateman’s knowledge that his non-legal communications are monitored, he brazenly engaged in explicit sexual conversations with children, including with 13-year-old Jane Doe 4,” prosecutors penned. At the time, Bateman was barred from communicating with Jane Doe 4.
Bateman is also alleged to have made calls to some of his “wives”, instructing them to send “intimidating messages” to a government witness. His phone privileges at the facility were ultimately curtailed and he was informed he could only communicate with his lawyers.
However, court documents stated that he had tried to circumvent this by using another inmate’s pin number to make calls. His adult wives, who were aware of the restrictions, also created new email addresses and obtained new phone numbers in an attempt to contact Bateman, the documents disclose.
Guilty
In April 2024, Bateman admitted guilt to conspiracy to transport a minor for criminal sexual activity and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He was sentenced in December 2024 to 50 years in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release.
At the time of sentencing, Bateman was 48, effectively making it a life sentence. Federal prosecutors stated he will spend the remainder of his life in custody.
Seven of Bateman’s adult “wives” have since been convicted of crimes related to coercing children into sexual activity or obstructing the investigation. Some confessed they also coerced girls to become Bateman’s spiritual “wives”, had witnessed Bateman sexually abusing girls, or participated in abducting them from foster care.
Indoctrination through phone calls
Following their incarceration, former wives like Naomi “Nomz” Bistline and Moretta Johnson, left the FLDS sect, along with Bateman’s underage victims. However, others continue to communicate with Bateman and support him.
Christine, who alongside her videographer husband Tolga played a key role in bringing Bateman down, says that his continued access to his followers through daily phone calls helps him maintain control. “That communication with him is like an IV of indoctrination,” she said.
“It’s like they’re getting fed certainty right into their veins – their belief that he is talking to God.” She told Netflix’s Tudum that she is convinced that freedom for these women begins with breaking contact.
“They must take back control”
She said: “Once they break from him and from the other people who believe in him, then they can say, ‘Wait, maybe I’m not so certain. Maybe he did make all this up so that he could get money, power, and sex – like every other cult leader’.”
According to Gillie, it could take years, but many of Bateman’s remaining followers will likely also drift away. She said: “They must take back control of their environment; previously everything was dictated, from what they could wear, what they ate, who they had sex with, how they spent their free time, and their social lives.
“It’s a vital part of understanding for survivors who come out, ex members, to understand this is the system you were part of. It’s very often people will be blaming themselves and thinking, ‘How was I so stupid?'”
However, both Gillie and Christine are certain that all the women who fell under Bateman’s influence deserve a life of freedom. She said: “They deserve to find true love.
“They deserve to know what reality is. You can’t be free if you’re living in a world of fiction.”
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