Samuel Bateman claimed he had divine authority to shepherd his own extremist sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS). In reality, he was orchestrating a multi-state scheme to conceal horrific sexual crimes.
Netflix is reexamining Bateman’s downfall and its aftermath with the four-part docuseries Trust Me: The False Prophet. Debuting on Wednesday, April 8, the project looks at how the longtime faith member was able to assemble his own followers, and what led investigators to catch on to his misdeeds.
While Bateman is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence, his community is still grappling with the severity of his confirmed and alleged crimes.
Who Is Samuel Bateman, and Why Did He Call Himself a Prophet?
Samuel Rappylee Bateman was born sometime around 1976; an exact month and day hasn’t been made public. Not surprisingly, little else is known about his childhood and immediate family.
Bateman grew up in Colorado City, Arizona, and was a devoted follower of the FLDS, led by Rulon Jeffs from 1986 through 2002 before son Warren Jeffs succeeded him, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. FLDS members believe their president is a prophet through whom God communicates directly.
Warren Jeffs was arrested in 2006 and later convicted of sexually assaulting two underage girls. He is estimated to have taken around 80 “spiritual wives,” including more than 20 who were underage girls. Bateman attended his trial.
Around 2019, with Jeffs unable to perform new marriages from prison, Bateman began claiming his own prophetic authority and led a breakaway sect of about 50 people known as the “Samuelites” along the Arizona and Utah border. Their community was known as Short Creek.
What Crimes Was Samuel Bateman Suspected Of?
According to his plea agreement, Bateman admitted to taking women and children from the families of his male followers and claiming them as his wives. Though none of these unions were legally or ceremonially recognized, Bateman engaged in sexual contact with the victims, The Guardian reported.
An FBI affidavit obtained by Insider later alleged Bateman even attempted to take his own daughter, then 14, as a wife in 2019—offering her two bags of Doritos and $50 in cash “like it was a bribe.” When Bateman reportedly verbalized his intentions to the girl’s mother, she and the girl moved out and acquired a restraining order against him.
While the Mormon faith abolished polygamy (having more than one spouse at the same time) in 1890, the practice became a central tenet of the FLDS. Polygamy is illegal in Arizona, but was decriminalized in Utah in 2020, according to Sky News.
Ultimately, Bateman, who often traveled to Nebraska to engage with remote followers, was determined to have trafficked victims, several of them underage, as part of a “sexual abuse conspiracy that spanned several states,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Bateman asserted it was the will of God to encourage followers—including minors—to engage in sexual activity, per NBC News. Julia Johnson, a former FLDS member whose four daughters were given to Bateman in spiritual marriages, testified that Bateman ordered atonement ceremonies, in which men were required to sleep with others’ wives to make up for their sins.
Who Discovered Evidence of Samuel Bateman’s Crimes?
A cult researcher and videographer both featured in the Trust Me docuseries played a pivotal role in bringing Bateman’s illicit behavior to light.
After Warren Jeffs’s arrest, researcher Christine Marie and her husband Tolga Katas, a videographer, moved to Short Creek. Marie founded a charitable organization called Voices for Dignity, which “promotes online kindness and compassion” and “contributes resources and advocacy for marginalized populations as well as survivors of public shaming, dehumanization, and stigmatization”—in this case, FLDS members.
Marie was in a car with Bateman and at least three women in 2021 when he began sharing details of “ritualistic sexual abuse,” according to a Salt Lake Tribune video essay.
“I grabbed my phone, I started to record, and I just prayed that that recording would work,” Marie recalled. She then contacted police, who connected her to the FBI.
Marie became an undercover informant, using a documentary project as a guise to film Bateman and the community to gather evidence. She also helped convince former member Johnson to share her own experiences with the FBI.
With Short Creek’s facade beginning to crumble, investigators turned their attention to Bateman.
How Was Samuel Bateman Arrested?
On August 28, 2022, police pulled Bateman over near Flagstaff, Arizona, after noticing small fingers protruding from the trailer attached to his truck.
Video footage from A&E’s Secrets of Polygamy shows Bateman initially refused to identify himself or answer questions during the encounter, only saying he was doing “some stuff.” Officers eventually opened the trailer to discover three girls, ages 11 to 14, being transported with no seating or ventilation and only a makeshift toilet. Bateman was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment, according to the video.
Although he initially posted bond, Bateman was arrested the following month and accused of Destruction of Records or an Attempt to Destroy Records in an Official Proceeding, among other related federal charges. He allegedly instructed his followers to delete messages and deleted his own messages from Signal, an encrypted messaging application, the same day as his arrest.
In the meantime, armed FBI agents with a search warrant raided Bateman’s community—including his primary residence known as the “Green House,” where he lived with as many as two dozen of his closest followers—on September 13, 2022. Agents also examined a small warehouse belonging to Bateman and seized computers, a hard drive, Bateman’s birth certificate, two adult toys, and several cell phones, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Authorities also removed nine children from Bateman’s home and placed them in foster care, according to the Associated Press. However, eight later escaped and were found in Washington state in a vehicle driven by one of his adult wives.
How Long Was Samuel Bateman Sentenced to Prison?
A federal grand jury issued a First Superseding Indictment in December 2022, adding kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping charges to Bateman and three female followers: Naomi Bistline, Donnae Barlow, and Moretta Rose Johnson, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A Second Superseding Indictment in May 2023 further charged Bateman with conspiracy to transport a minor for criminal sexual activity, conspiracy to travel across state lines to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, using a means of interstate commerce to persuade or coerce a minor to engage in sexual activity, interstate travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, and production of child pornography.
Although he initially faced dozens of charges, Bateman pleaded guilty in April 2024 to Conspiracy to Commit Transportation of a Minor for Criminal Sexual Activity and Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping as part of a deal with prosecutors. He acknowledged taking underage brides, having sexual activity with them, and arranging group sex. Authorities believed Bateman ultimately took more than 20 wives total, including 10 under the age of 18. Some of his victims were as young as 9 years old.
Bateman was sentenced to 50 years in prison, followed by supervised lifetime release, on December 10, 2024. Eleven of his adult followers were also convicted on charges as part of the child sex abuse conspiracy—including a life sentence for LaDell Bistline Jr., who provided his own daughters among other Bateman victims.
It’s unclear where Bateman is today. St. George News in Utah previously reported he was held in federal custody in Florence, Arizona. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, however, Bateman is designated as “not in BOP custody” as of March 2026, meaning he could be in transit between facilities or housed in a private, county, or state facility.
Watch Trust Me: The False Prophet on Netflix starting April 8
The docuseries is directed by Rachel Dretzin, who previously tackled the crimes of Warren Jeffs in 2022’s Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey.
Trust Me includes never-before-seen footage and firsthand accounts from inside Short Creek, largely pulled from Marie and Katas’s reconnaissance, according to a Tudum summary.
“Trust Me offers intimate access to a normally closed world—and in doing so, I hope it exposes both the violence that enforced secrecy enables and what it takes to tell the truth when everything is at stake,” Dretzin said. “What these women did matters far beyond their community. It is a blueprint for how to dismantle even the most entrenched systems of abuse.”
Trust Me: The False Prophet begins streaming Wednesday, April 8, on Netflix.
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
