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Samuel Bateman: 8 of Bentley-driving Mormon prophet's 20 wives as young as 9 rescued from Airbnb by FBI

FBI says most of the wives are 'under the age of 15’, including his own daughter, and Bateman forced them to engage in incest and group sex
UPDATED DEC 5, 2022
Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 46, trafficked young girl between Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Nebraska (Coconino County Sheriff's Office)
Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 46, trafficked young girl between Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Nebraska (Coconino County Sheriff's Office)

If you or anyone you know suspects child abuse, you are urged to immediately call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. 

COLORADO CITY, ARIZONA: Eight young girls, who were forcefully married to a Bentley-driving Mormon prophet, were found after they escaped from group homes in Arizona and were found holed up in an Airbnb in Spokane with one of their older wives, Morita Rose Johnson, 19. Johnson now faces federal kidnapping charges. In September, the girls, aged 9, were taken into protective custody by the Arizona Department of Child Services. This happened after an informer disclosed how the polygamist Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 46 married up to 20 women, which even include his daughter. 

According to law enforcement, Bateman sex trafficked these “young girls” between Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Nebraska. But in spite of the fact investigators found that the girls describe in their diaries “sleeping with Bateman, kissing and touching him", none of them have confessed to federal investigators that they were sexually assaulted by Bateman. He was the head of a branch of Mormons called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Interrogators assume that some of the older wives trained the girls not to talk to them. They are reportedly said to have been in contact with their older wives, who worked with Bateman to help them escape and “bring them home”.

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Nine underage girls were taken into protective custody after they were found inside a filthy trailer fitted with a sofa and a toilet bucket. Eight of the nine girls rescued by the Arizona Department of Child Services in September ran away from their group homes on November 27. The federal investigators soon discovered that they were still in a group chat with some adult wives. A criminal complaint says they left behind journals stating, “Today is the day we go home.”

Warren Jeffs (L) is led by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department SWAT officers into Las Vegas Justice Court for his extradition hearing at the Regional Justice Center August 31, 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jeffs, the fugitive leader of a polygamist Mormon sect who has been on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List since May, will not fight extradition to Utah. He was arrested by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper on August 28 during a traffic stop. Jeffs was wanted in Utah and Arizona on charges linked to allegations of arranging marriages between men and underage girls.
Warren Jeffs (L) is led by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department SWAT officers into Las Vegas Justice Court for his extradition hearing at the Regional Justice Center August 31, 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Bateman made a call from prison to two of his adult wives who were driving in his car together. The women can be heard saying they have two girls in a recorded phone conversation, according to the criminal complaint. He reportedly dialed the women again the next morning and discovered that all eight of the runaway wives were in a hotel room with the women. FBI recorded a series of phone calls in which Bateman can be heard speaking with the wives who said they are on the move and traveling in separate groups to avoid getting arrested.

The FBI was able to track down a business card to VelociWrapper, a company run by one of Bateman’s followers, according to court documents. They requested an emergency disclosure from Airbnb to find any addresses held by that follower or under any of his business accounts. The officials found one such property listed in Spokane, Washington, and asked the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department to knock on the door. 

Court documents say that no one responded when the FBI officials arrived at the home but a sergeant spotted a car leaving the scene. They found Johnson and all eight of the missing girls inside. Johnson is now being booked into the Spokane County Jail in FBI custody and will be returned to Arizona to face charges. It is not clear what happened to the eight girls after her arrest.

Before being banished from the Bateman home in September, three girls at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were seen hugging. These girls were said to have been in contact with the wives of their older sisters, who convinced along with the polygamist to help them escape. Bateman has gained a following since he took on FLDS as a prophet from Warren Jeffs who is a convicted child rapist. Pittman acquired “nearly 50 followers and more than 20 wives, many of them minors, most under 15" while in power, says an affidavit.

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