The place Belief Me: The False Prophet Survivors Nomz Bistline, Moretta Johnson, Julia Johnson & Extra Are Now

When was Church of Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints Sect Leader Samuel Bateman arrested?

Bateman, a former real estate agent and motivational speaker, declared himself a prophet and formed his own FLDS sect in 2019. Over just a few years, he amassed 22 “wives,” 10 of whom were minors when they became “brides,” according to federal prosecutors.

About two years after he was first questioned about the child bride allegations, Bateman was arrested in August 2022 in Flagstaff, Ariz., when public safety troopers pulled him over and found three girls between the ages of 11 and 14 in the unventilated box trailer he was towing. State police said, per the Associated Press, that someone spotted small fingers sticking out of a gap in the trailer door.

Bateman posted bond, but he was arrested again the following month and indicted on charges of destroying records to impede a federal investigation. At the time, nine children were removed from his Colorado City, Ariz., home and placed in state foster care.

Prosecutors said that Bateman then enlisted three of his wives to get eight of the girls—whom he also considered his wives—away from social services.

Two subsequent superseding indictments resulted in further charges for Bateman, including kidnapping, conspiracy to transport a minor for criminal sexual activity, production of child pornography and witness tampering.