A federal grand jury issued a new supervising indictment on May 18, naming Bateman, co-defendants Rudell Vistline, Torrance Vistline, and eight of Bateman’s adult wives as defendants in the case. nominated. Collectively, they are guilty of conspiracy, transporting a minor for criminal sexual activity, producing and receiving child pornography, interstate travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity with a minor, and federal crimes such as kidnapping. has been prosecuted for

Bateman has amassed a small but broad religious following in the area, including the city of Colorado, according to federal prosecutors. Lincoln, Nebraska. Cedar City, Utah. And at a monument in Colorado. Bateman already identified himself as a religious prophet in 2019 with disgraced former FLS leader Warren Jeffs (whom Bateman and his supporters allegedly called “Uncle Warren”). recognized as a successor candidate.

Bateman allegedly advised his male followers to surrender adult women and girls to him as wives. Prosecutors say 20 women and girls were married to Bateman as of last year, including a nine-year-old.

Prosecutors say Bateman traveled alone or with alleged co-conspirators to visit and teach potential followers in Arizona, Nebraska, Utah and Colorado. Bateman’s followers and co-conspirators then allegedly “testified” to potential new followers in order to make them believe that Bateman was a biblical prophet and was carrying out the will of “Uncle Warren.” It is

Bateman persuaded his followers to surrender his wife and children to him, according to the May 18 indictment. Prosecutors said Bateman would later “marry” each of them, including 10 girls under the age of 18.

“Bateman and his co-conspirators began taking their wives, including minors, back to Colorado City,” the indictment said. “Bateman and his co-conspirators used cell phones, other electronic devices, electronic communications, the Internet, vehicles, interstates, and hotels to convince underage victims to marry Bateman and marry him. Persuaded and encouraged to travel and participate in sexual activity.”

As part of the conspiracy, prosecutors said Bateman and co-defendants had sex in front of their minor wives. Bateman allegedly encouraged minors to participate in the activity and trained them to do so.

The indictment states, “In one instance, Bateman and his co-conspirators used electronic devices and video communications to recruit minors to facilitate the participation of other co-conspirators and minors in different states. was involved in a collective sexual act involving

Officials from the Arizona Department of Child Services tried to talk to the Batemans about having an underage girl in their home, prosecutors said. Bateman’s adult wives refused to speak to her DCS personnel, and personnel were not allowed to speak alone with the children or ask Bateman’s children’s wives specific questions.

Prosecutors allege Bateman had sexual relations with girls under the age of 18 on multiple occasions since 2020. A follower, Rudell Bistoline, was the father of several of Bateman’s wives and allegedly knew of the sexual nature of Bateman’s relationship with his victims.

According to the indictment, Bateman “gives” one of his wives (then 12) to follower and co-defendant Torrance Bistrain for sex in the November 2021 case. According to eyewitness accounts, Bateman did so as an act of “reparation,” which required him to sacrifice his “most valuable possessions.”

Bateman allowed Torrance Bisline to have sex with his wife of 12 years less than two weeks after Bisline bought a Bentley car for Bateman.

Arrests and Federal Investigations

On August 28, 2022, while Bateman was driving in the Flagstaff area, Arizona Department of Public Safety officials allegedly saw the girl’s hand hanging out of the window of a box trailer attached to Bateman’s car.

Officers stopped Bateman and arrested him at the scene on a felony child abuse charge, and his cell phone was confiscated as evidence while he was detained at the Coconino County Jail.

Bateman contacted one of the believers by phone from the facility, federal investigators said. During the call, Bateman instructed the recipient to delete their Signal messaging app account and all messages stored in that account. It was a request Bateman repeated in serial calls to several followers and at least one wife.

Signal is a popular text messaging and communication app that relies on end-to-end encryption. According to the app’s support website, Signal does not record or collect sensitive information about its users. According to Signal, third parties (or Signal parties themselves) cannot access your messages or call records while you are using the app.

FBI Special Agent Dawn Martin filed the first report on the case last year.

“They agreed to do so and said they were making an effort,” Martin’s report said. “They sang to Bateman on the phone and told him they loved him and needed him. We also discussed what it was. Girls can be heard crying in the recording. Bateman was so upset that AZ DPS took his phone call as evidence. ”

Bateman’s wives tried to delete his Signal account after the call, and then deleted their own, according to the report.

Bateman was released on bail from Coconino County Jail on September 2. At the time, Bateman asked how to factory reset his phone, according to his prosecution.

According to the indictment, Bateman had a sexual relationship with one of his underage wives, who was 15 at the time, at a location in Utah within 10 days of his release. When adult wife and co-defendant Brenda Barlow allegedly learned of an FBI agent in the city of Colorado on Sept. claimed to have it.

Also on September 13, federal prosecutors said that Naomi Bisline, an adult wife and co-defendant, threw a backpack full of condoms, digital devices and other items through the window of Bateman’s home. . Prosecutors said they tried to cover up evidence while conducting a federal investigation. warrant for their home.

Bateman was indicted on Sept. 6 and placed in federal custody on Sept. 13 on charges of destroying evidence in a federal investigation. Bateman has since been held in custody at the Central Arizona Correctional Facility in Florence, where he is currently awaiting pending trial. in U.S. District Court.

kidnapping conspiracy

In September, nine girls were taken from Bateman’s two Colorado homes and placed in DCS custody. Federal investigators said none of Bateman’s underage wives revealed actual sexual abuse by Bateman at the time. However, a federal search warrant for the case uncovered several magazines documenting Bateman’s activities.

Federal prosecutors said the victims may have been instructed by Bateman and his older wives not to testify against the defendants.

In a report last year, Martin said, “A review of many diaries seized during the search warrant revealed details that mentioned several girls sleeping with Bateman, kissing him and touching him. there was,” he said. “It is believed that some of the older girls were influencing the younger girls not to talk about Bateman. So the younger girls said to interviewers, ‘I can’t talk.’ refused to participate in forensic interviews, except for (one girl) who told her.”

Just before Thanksgiving, Martin said one of the potential victims told DPS officials that Bateman had been sexually abusing him in his home.

And on November 27, eight of Bateman’s nine minor wives disappeared from the group home while in DPS custody.

Martin said local police found diaries and electronic devices left by several girls who used the Signal app to participate in group chats with Bateman’s adult wives. It seemed to indicate that Everyone in the group her chat changed their last name to Rappylee Bateman.

On the day of the girls’ disappearance, Bateman allegedly made a video call to his wife, Naomi Vistline and Donae Barlow, from the Florence Correctional Facility in Central Arizona. Federal investigators say the call was recorded and cited as evidence in the lawsuit against Bateman and his co-defendants.

In the call, Barlow and Naomi Bistoline told Bateman that there were two of the missing girls. In a separate video call on Nov. 28, Vistline told Bateman that all but one of his underage wives had been taken from DCS custody thanks to the presence of police at the group home of their ninth child. He said he was able to get it back.

Investigators said throughout the recording, cameras were positioned to view each of the missing girls, who are now in a hotel room with Bistrain, Barlow and his wife, Moretta Johnson. there is

FBI agents were able to trace a credit card purchase to Spokane, Washington, where Naomi Bisline booked an AirBnB home. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputy caught Johnson walking away from the scene on December 2. All eight missing children were found in Johnson’s car.

Bateman is due to appear in court on Friday in Phoenix on 49 federal charges.

These charges include conspiracy to persuade and coerce a minor, conspiracy to transport a minor for a sexual offense, conspiracy to travel interstate for the purpose of illicit sexual contact with a minor, Includes the crime of persuading or coercing a minor to travel. Using interstate travel means to transport minors for criminal sexual activity, producing child pornography, receiving child pornography, to minors for the purpose of engaging in illegal sexual activity interstate travel for the purpose of engagement, illegal sexual conduct with minors, tampering with witnesses, tampering with official process, destruction of records in federal investigations, aiding and abetting kidnapping, kidnapping conspiracy.

Bateman is also scheduled to appear at a hearing in U.S. District Court on May 31 in connection with Bateman’s dismissal of a former attorney at Chandler-based attorney Four Freedom Law Firm. .

Mr. Bateman’s latest indictment was published as of May 25, despite an order May 18 by federal judge John Z. Boyle to keep the indictment sealed.