Arizona ‘self-proclaimed prophet’ with more than 20 wives, including minors, accused of blackmailing government witnesses and using prison phones to have ‘overtly sexual conversations’ with children has been indicted, federal court documents say.

Prosecutors allege Samuel Rappery Bateman, leader of a Fundamental Church chapter of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, repeatedly abused phone privileges at the Core Civic/Central Arizona Florence Correctional Facility are doing. Arrested in September for destroying records related to a federal investigation.

According to the document, in a Nov. 26 conversation, Bateman called the 13-year-old girl, identified only as Jane Doe 4, a “sexy darling” and asked her if she remembered their “holy times” together. He also had an inappropriate conversation with a 16-year-old girl identified as Jane Doe 11, the filing said.

“Bateman brazenly engaged in overtly sexual conversations with children, including 13-year-old Jane Doe, 4, even though he knew his unlawful communications were being monitored,” prosecutors said. I am writing.

At the time, Bateman was a victim of a Coconino County child abuse case and was barred from communicating with Jane Doe.

The documents further allege that Bateman called several of his wives and instructed them to send “threatening messages” to government witnesses.

Bateman’s phone and video privileges at the facility were eventually restricted, and he was told he could only communicate with his lawyer, but court documents show he used another inmate’s PIN to I tried to avoid it by making a phone call.

His adult wife, who was aware of the restrictions, also created a new email address and obtained a new phone number to contact Bateman, according to the documents. On Friday, the date of the court filing, one of Bateman’s wives allegedly used her new email address to send Bateman her 33 messages before the emails were blocked. .

According to the document, Bateman “continues to call blocked numbers on an almost daily basis.”

A lawyer for Bateman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

After his arrest, the underage girls Bateman considered to be his wives were placed in the custody of the Arizona Department of Child Services. Nine said they were currently minors between the ages of 12 and 16.

He is said to have called his adult wife out of prison to coordinate the escape of eight girls. They were eventually tracked down to an Airbnb in Washington.