In this file photo, the FBI issued a search warrant on property owned by FLDS sect leader Samuel Bateman on September 13, 2022 in Colorado, Arizona. Photo contributed, St. George News
st. George — A 22-year-old woman accused of sending threatening emails to the Arizona Department of Child Services is linked to a federal lawsuit filed against Arizona polygamy leader Samuel Rappery Bateman. was arrested by an FBI agent on federal charges filed in No bail.
According to an 11-page complaint filed March 29 in federal district court in Arizona, Josephine Barlow Bistoline, 22, is in federal custody and has been accused of interstate communications1 for the purpose of intimidation or injury. and one cyberstalking case. She was arrested in Flagstaff, Arizona on her March 29th.
Since December 2022, Bistline had been cyberstalking one of the state’s case managers, according to the complaint. This came shortly after Bistline was granted permanent custody of her eight children (two of which are hers). Two months later, the defendant sent a series of emails threatening to harm her workers and demanded that DCS return the children.
“Your time is up,” defendant said in one of the emails.
Arizona DCS was first granted temporary custody of eight children after Bateman’s arrest in Colorado City last September.They fled the group home they were staying in — a plan federal prosecutors claim was coordinated by Bateman and several of his wives.
upon. December 1, 2022, all eight missing children Found in Spokane, Washington and returned to Arizona.two A few weeks later, Bateman and his three wives were indicted on kidnapping and other charges. Arizona DCS was granted permanent custody of the children. Officials said they were kept in an undisclosed location for security purposes.
federal prosecutors, Bistline said she went to one of the foster homes on Feb. 19 to meet one of the children and was there to give them gifts. She also reportedly claimed that a DCS caseworker gave her the address where the children were staying and that she knew where all nine of her children were.
Bistline was told she was not allowed to see children and was instructed to leave the premises. Meanwhile, defendants continued to send emails to DCS. On March 24, Bistline reportedly sent her four threatening emails to caseworkers. She was arrested five days later.
In one email, Bistline said that anyone involved in Bateman’s prosecution would be “killed. This is a promise. Watch!” read the email.
The email claimed that the caseworker would spend a year “in prison” for each day the children were in state custody.
Suspects also accused the DCFS of running a child trafficking scheme and demanded the children’s return.
“You have been warned,” Bistline wrote. “If you don’t repent and fix it, you will pay a very high price.”
Agents said they discovered that Bistline had sent one of the children’s foster parents an email accusing the children of murder, and DCFS said, “We’re in big trouble. Don’t worry, I’m We are working on it,” he said.
On Tuesday, the defendants appeared in federal court for a detention hearing before Justice of the Peace Michael T. Morrissey. A judge refused her release and ordered Bistline to be held in federal custody pending trial. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Defendant is one of four co-conspirators arrested and charged in the federal lawsuit against Bateman. In December 2022, three women — Donne Barlow, 24, Moretta Rose Johnson, 19, and Naomi Vistline (Naomi Vistline) — were arrested by federal agents on charges of obstruction and kidnapping.
Bateman was a member of the fundamentalist Church of the Latter-day Saints, with about 50 members and over 20 wives. Investigations showed that for the most part he was under the age of 21.
Bateman is said to have encouraged his followers, including children, to engage in sexual acts. He claimed it was an instruction he received through an “impression of the will of our Heavenly Father” that he relied on to submit to his own will, federal prosecutors say.
The incident stemmed from the arrest on August 28, 2022, after Arizona Department of Public Safety officers noticed a child’s hand sticking out of the horse trailer being pulled by Bateman’s truck. , stopped Bateman. During the search, authorities found three girls, ages nine to her thirteen, riding in the back of the utility’s trailer.
He was bailed and released a few days later. Less than a week later, Bateman was arrested by federal agents during an FBI investigation and charged in federal court.
A federal judge denied Bateman bail, believing that Bateman was a flight risk because of his connections abroad and the ability to pool resources and money from his followers.
This report is based on court records, statements from police or other respondents and may not include the full range of findings. presumed innocent until proven guilty or determined by a fact-finder.
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