Jeffs was arrested in 2006 and convicted for having sexual contact with girls he had taken as wives, but that conviction was later overturned. Jeffs was the leader of the community at that time and banned 'modern' luxuries like sports, the internet, public education, books, music, and television for his followers. Mr Bateman’s cousin spoke with The Tribune about the man, recounting how he changed drastically after a car crash in Canada, claiming it was 'almost like a light switch happened,' noting that he 'turned into this very extreme person.'įollowing the crash, Mr Bateman began espousing extreme religious views and pushing away those who did not match his fervor. In recordings from 2021 collected by investigators, Mr Bateman claimed he was sending his wives, including the children, out to have sex with other men from the community because God had told him to do so, according to the Tribune. This led the FBI to suspect that Mr Bateman was trafficking minors across state lines for sex with other male members of the community. Mr Bateman was arrested in August after he was stopped by police while driving with a trailer filled with young girls, according to the Associated Press. In 2019, Mr Bateman had a fallout with Jeffs and declared himself a prophet, quickly amassing a following of 50 people, and married 20 of them, including at least nine minors. Mr Bateman filled a power vacuum in the community after its previous leader, Warren Jeffs, was arrested and convicted for sexually assaulting minors that he had married. Court records show that federal agents became concerned that Mr Bateman was taking minors as his wives. Residents of the area tipped off law enforcement to Mr Bateman’s alleged practices several times over the past two years, according to The Tribune. Though the 'Short Creek' community - a collective name for the FLDS members in Colorado City - was traditionally closed off to outsiders, that has been changing in recent years, and played a part in Mr Bateman’s eventual arrest. The group exists as a separate entity to the modern Mormon church and is a close-knit, secretive community largely based in Utah and Arizona. Members who refused to comply with the new ruling reorganised and became the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Until 1904, polygamy was relatively common within the Mormon faith, but a church missive passed that year by Joseph F Smith - the nephew of the religion’s founder - called the Second Manifesto banned marriage practices that violated the law and excommunicated members who chose to continue practicing plural marriages. Eight underage girls - alleged members of polygamist cult - found hiding in Airbnb after escape.Arizona FLDS polygamous leader’s home raided by FBI, reports say.

Arizona man charged after girls found in enclosed trailer.It, along with Hildale, Utah, are considered the home bases for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, per The Salt Lake Tribune. Mr Bateman was raised in Colorado City, which sits on the border between Arizona and Utah. Family members told investigators that year that he had even pondered taking his own daughter as a wife. A federal affidavit obtained by The Salt Lake Tribunenotes that Mr Bateman “began to proclaim he was a prophet” in 2019 and married multiple women and girls. Half a dozen women and girls, dressed in similarly solid color dresses, waited outside a Colorado City, Arizona, home watching as armed federal agents raided the residence in search of the man all of them - even the minors - called their husband.Īgents found and arrested Samuel Bateman, 46, a self-proclaimed prophet and member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, an extremist off-shoot of the Mormon church that still practices polygamy.

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