Polygamous leader made sexually explicit calls from jail to child wives, prosecutors say

Three girls embrace before they are removed from the home of Samuel Bateman, following his arrest in Colorado City, Ariz., on Sept. 13, 2022. Inset is Bateman's booking photo | Main photo by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via The Associated Press, inset booking photo taken in Coconino County, Ariz., Aug. 28, 2022, courtesy of the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — A polygamous leader from Colorado City currently facing federal charges for the alleged kidnapping of eight underage girls will have his communications restricted while in custody after being accused of not only trying to obstruct justice while using jail phones but was also engaging in sexually explicit conversations with underage girls.

Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 46, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Sept. 6 with the destruction of records in an official proceeding, tampering with an official proceeding and destruction of records in a federal investigation. A superseding indictment on Dec. 14 included additional charges of tamping with an official proceeding, conspiracy to tamper with an official proceeding, kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap.

Three women — Donnae Barlow, 24, Moretta Rose Johnson, 19, and Naomi Bistline, age not available — were also charged in December with obstructing a federal prosecution and kidnapping in connection with Bateman’s case.

Documents released in federal court earlier this month outline what Bateman had allegedly been doing after his arrest and while incarcerated in Arizona.

Read the full story here: KSL News.

Written by PAT REAVY, KSL.com.

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