Self-proclaimed prophet and polygamist leader Samuel Rappylee Bateman’s legal troubles snowballed on Thursday as three women accused of kidnapping eight minors were added to his case in federal court and new charges were added.
Bateman, who faced three counts of destruction of evidence after his federal arrest in September, will now also face two counts of obstruction of justice, one count of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to for kidnapping, according to a new indictment filed in federal court. .
According to the FBI and U.S. prosecutors, Naomi Bistline, Donnae Barlow, both 24, and Moretta Johnson, 19, were working under Bateman’s direction to remove eight girls from the custody of the Department of Child Safety at the school. Arizona on November 27.
The three women will also be charged with kidnapping and obstruction of justice alongside Bateman, 46.
Child Protective Services removed nine girls from Bateman’s property in Colorado City, Arizona in September when the FBI arrested Bateman on suspicion of tampering with evidence. Just after Thanksgiving, eight girls fled group homes in the Valley and made their way to Spokane, Washington, where the FBI had tracked them down. One stayed behind.
After a grand jury issued an indictment in the case, Bistline and Barlow were arraigned Thursday morning in Flagstaff Federal Trial Court. Their trials will be merged with Bateman’s, and they will soon be moved to a facility in the valley to be closer to the federal courthouse in Phoenix.
The women will most likely be appointed as new lawyers before the start of the trial, which is scheduled for January 10. Defense motions must be submitted by January 5.
Bateman was first arrested by Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers on August 28 on three counts of child abuse after a patrol officer saw a child’s hand stick out of a horse trailer pulled by Bateman’s truck in Flagstaff. The soldier found three girls, ages 9 to 13, and reported that Bateman had given them a bucket to use as a toilet, according to the criminal complaint against him.
According to an FBI statement in court, while Bateman was in Flagstaff jail, he told his followers to delete information from the Signal app that the group used to communicate.
In an affidavit filed in court on December 1, the FBI accused Bateman of sexually abusing minors and using the Signal app to broadcast sex acts to its subscribers.
These documents describe how Bateman, acting as the leader of a splinter sect of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, used his position to order orgies involving some of the girls, whom he would call “atonement” ceremonies. The FLDS, based in Colorado City, is a splinter sect of the Mormon Church, which no longer tolerates polygamy.
The FBI raided three properties associated with Bateman in Colorado City on September 13 while executing a search warrant. Officers arrested Bateman on suspicion of tampering with evidence, while nine girls were taken into state custody and placed in group homes.
According to federal prosecutors, eight of the nine girls were removed from group homes by Bistline, Barlow and Johnson on November 27.
In the federal indictment, Bistline and Barlow were charged with working together to retrieve three of the girls, while Johnson was charged with retrieving the other five.
From the Florence Correctional Complex in central Arizona, Bateman video called Barlow and Bistline on the night of Nov. 27 to confirm which of the girls they had picked up, according to the indictment.
The next morning he called Bistline, and she told him that they had had eight girls in total, but one was missing. Bistline told Bateman they tried to catch the last girl, but “ran away after the police were called,” the indictment reads.
In another video call, Bateman contacted Johnson, who was in a hotel room with a baby, and she told him, “We’re helping you,” according to federal prosecutors.
Johnson and the eight girls checked into a Spokane Airbnb rental paid for by Bateman supporters. A Spokane County sheriff’s sergeant knocked on his door Dec. 1, but Johnson attempted to leave with the eight girls but was arrested, federal prosecutors said.
The whereabouts of Bistline and Barlow were unclear during this time.
Johnson was arrested Dec. 1 and held on one count of obstruction of justice and one count of kidnapping. She was detained in Spokane pending her first court appearance scheduled for December 16.
Bistline and Barlow were arrested on December 2 and appeared separately in federal court in the weeks that followed, speaking only through their lawyers.
Barlow’s Flagstaff defense attorney, Roberta McVickers, framed her client’s actions as those of a naive mother who was simply trying to help family members she believed were in trouble.
By contrast, Bistline’s defense attorney, Daniel Kaiser, argued that his client had been severely abused and brainwashed by Bateman.
Bateman, through his attorney, denied all previous allegations against him, saying he was the target of religious persecution by federal authorities. In court filings on Thursday, Bateman asked the U.S. District Court to change attorneys.
So far, a handful of family members and friends of Bistline and Barlow have made their way into the courtroom for each hearing, some dressed in traditional clothing with long hair held back in a braid. Defendants and their supporters remained largely expressionless throughout the proceedings, even as prosecutors described some of Bateman’s alleged abuse.
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