ST. GEORGE — Three women have been charged in the kidnapping of eight underaged girls in connection with a federal case filed against Samuel Rappylee Bateman, an Arizona polygamous leader who remains in federal custody without bail.
And the details compiled by federal investigators suggest a pattern of deceit and cover-up, including the shredding of potentially vital evidence, over a period of years.
According to a 22-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona Dec. 1, all three women – Donnae Barlow, 24, Moretta Rose Johnson, 19, and Naomi Bistline, age not available – are in federal custody facing one count of obstructing a federal prosecution and a second count of kidnapping in connection with a federal case against Bateman.
The complaint says that between May 2020 and November of this year, the suspects were involved in transporting the underage girls between four states, including Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Nebraska.
Then, on Aug. 28, federal prosecutors alleged that Bateman, 46, along with his “aiders and abettors,” obstructed justice by tampering with an official proceeding and destroying records connected to a federal investigation, and also engaged in tampering with an official proceeding and kidnapping.
In September, the nine girls were removed from Bateman’s property in Colorado City, Arizona, and placed into protective custody by the Arizona Department of Child Services after multiple investigations into the group’s ringleader, Bateman, who is accused of sexually abusing underage girls in an affidavit filed in federal court in December.
Last month, eight of the girls fled from an Arizona group home, while one remained behind, over the Thanksgiving holiday. The case seemed to go quiet until FBI agents tracked them to a rental property in Spokane, Washington, on Dec. 1.
Bateman – self-proclaimed prophet of God
A member of the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saint Church, Bateman reportedly had approximately 50 followers and more than 20 wives – the majority of whom are under the age of 21 and many are minors, federal investigators say.
As reported in a Dec. 15 story by the Associated Press, the community where Bateman and those he claims as wives reside has recently undergone major shifts, but for decades it was a stronghold of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a polygamous offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon Church. Polygamy is a legacy of the early teachings of the mainstream church, but it abandoned the practice in 1890 and now strictly prohibits it.
Bateman purportedly encouraged his followers, including children, to engage in sexual acts – directives he said he received through “impressions of Heavenly Father’s will,” which he claimed he relied on to submit to his own will, federal prosecutors say.
In 2019, Bateman, who had one wife at the time, started proclaiming he was a prophet and that the authority came from Warren Jeffs.
The former leader of the FLDS church who reportedly had 78 wives, Jeffs is serving a life sentence for arranging illegal marriages and for sexually assaulting some of his underage wives. Bateman also directed his followers to refer to Jeffs as “Uncle Warren.”
Also in 2019, Bateman began to take on more wives, both young and old, the complaint says, after his wife took the children and left him when he allegedly told her that he wanted to take his own minor daughter as a wife. Jeffs reportedly told his then-current wife he had received a message from God to marry and impregnate their underaged daughter, the complaint alleges.
From there, Bateman, who did not work and relied on the financial support of his followers, took several of his followers’ wives as his own, and also took their female children as wives – five of whom were reportedly taken from a father.
The defendant also traveled to a number of states during this time, and towards the end of 2020 he was seen in a large SUV “packed with women and girls,” court records state, that he introduced as his wives – the youngest of whom turned out to be 9 years old.
While in Nebraska, federal agents say, the defendant reportedly took all of the daughters from one family line as his wives, including the youngest, another 9-year-old girl, who, authorities say, “went silent after Bateman took her as a wife.”
During this same time period, the defendant ordered several of his male followers to sexually assault the children while he watched, allegedly telling them it was to “atone for their sins,” and after spending several months in Nebraska, the defendant and his entourage returned to Colorado City.
Authorities began to receive calls reporting the activity between Bateman and the underage girls, including one report stating the defendant was at an airport with an 11-year-old girl. When officers arrived, they spoke to Bateman who claimed the report was “just rumors.” When the child was interviewed, the report states the girl “appeared confused” and denied being in a relationship with the defendant.
During another incident reported in Iron County in November 2020, a caller reported that Bateman had taken their grandchildren. When the suspect was stopped, all occupants were interviewed and the children’s parents said “their children were fine with Bateman,” who was detained nonetheless by deputies.
He was released after the mother of two of the girls, ages 9 and 11, told deputies she was going to marry Bateman and that “she and the girls were there of their own free will.”
The tapes
Authorities collected numerous video and audio recordings during the months-long investigation that captured meetings and other discussions between Bateman and his followers. It was through one such recording that agents learned Bateman’s alleged child-wives would be sent to the “blue house” in Colorado City to “be corrected.”
In another recording, Bateman reportedly ordered two of his followers to turn over one of their buildings, which served as their place of business, to him to use an office, even though he wasn’t employed, citing he “couldn’t get a moment of peace at home,” federal agents say.
The defendant also ordered several of his male followers to sexually assault the children while he watched, allegedly telling them it was to “atone for their sins,” and investigators also learned that girls would be sent to the “blue house” in Colorado City to “be corrected.”
The traffic stop
Then, on Aug. 28, Bateman was stopped after an Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper noticed a child’s hand sticking out of a horse trailer being pulled by Bateman’s truck, and during a search, authorities found three girls, ages 9-13, riding in the back of a utility trailer. Bateman gave them a bucket to use as a toilet, according to one criminal complaint against him, and during the arrest, troopers seized the defendant’s cell phone.
At the Coconino County jail, the defendant made several calls, including a call where Bateman spoke to several of his wives, including the young girls, and during the call, authorities say that Bateman instructed Bistline and other followers to delete their Signal app, which is an end-to-end encrypted instant messaging application, saying, “The whole thing. Delete every message, right now,” Bateman said during the recorded call.
Bateman’s wives attempted to delete the defendant’s Signal account after the call and also deleted their own accounts, while agents obtained a search warrant two days after the arrest.
On Sept. 1, the family bailed out Bateman after posting a $150,000 bond, and during the ride home, he asked how he could do a factory reset on his phone, while his followers were picking up a paper shredder that was to be used to shred his wives’ journals. On he was back in Colorado City, the FBI believed that Bateman continued to destroy evidence and attempted to get passports for the women and girls, according to court documents.
Five days later the defendant would be indicted in federal court on one count each of destruction of records in an official proceeding, tampering and destruction of records in a federal investigation.
The following week Bateman was arrested during an FBI raid of three of the defendant’s homes, and on Sept. 13, nine minor girls were placed in the custody of the state, while the defendant was housed at the Central Arizona Correctional Complex in Florence, Arizona. A federal judge denied Bateman bail, considering him a flight risk because of his connections outside the country and ability to pool resources and funds from his followers.
Agents also seized several electronic devices that revealed the group was still communicating with one another using the Signal application that Bateman ordered his followers to delete, but was never deleted.
Meanwhile, a series of forensic interviews were conducted at the Arizona Department of Child Services. None of the children disclosed any “actual sexual abuse” by Bateman during the interviews, although at least one admitted to being present during one of the many “sex orgies” that were detailed in the report.
A review of the many journals kept by the children indicated there was sexual abuse, but the juveniles refused to speak to authorities, saying, “I can’t talk to you,” leaving investigators to believe that some of the older girls were presumably instructing the younger girls not to talk.
The eight escape
Just before Thanksgiving, eight of the nine ran away from the group homes they were placed in, while one child remained at the facility. All eight of the girls were later picked up and taken out of state by the three codefendants Bristlin, Barlow and Johnson – who authorities say had planned the girls’ abduction a few days after Thanksgiving with the help of other Bateman followers.
Agents also collected images from a video call placed to Bateman on the day the girls escaped, which showed all eight children in a vehicle with Barlow and Bristline. Johnson tells Bateman during another video call, “We are helping you.”
The following week, all eight girls were found in Washington state during a traffic stop of a vehicle driven by Johnson.
All three coconspirators have made an appearance in U.S. District Court in Flagstaff, and Bateman is scheduled to be back in federal court on Wednesday. Until then, he remains in jail awaiting trial that has been set for Jan 10, 2023, while the nine girls remain in the custody of DCS and were placed in an undisclosed location for security purposes.
If convicted, each of the three codefendants could face 20 years in federal prison for the tampering charge – and 20 years to life for kidnapping.
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