Trailer Full Of Underage Girls | Daily Brief

Episode 455,   Sep 30, 2022, 03:00 PM

A 46-year-old man is accused of transporting minor girls in an enclosed trailer and tampering with evidence after he allegedly split from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to form his own small polygamous organization.

According to court documents obtained by The Associated Press, someone allegedly saw fingers in a crack in a trailer's rear door in late August. Three females, ages 11 to 14, were reportedly located during a check of the trailer by authorities.

The Associated Press states that Samuel Bateman was operating the trailer. There was supposedly a homemade toilet, a couch, several camping chairs, and no air conditioning or ventilation in the trailer. As a result, Bateman was reportedly taken into custody.

The girls' relationship to Bateman was not addressed in the court papers.

Reports indicate that Bateman "destroyed or attempted to destroy data, by deleting or aiding and abetting others to erase, electronic communications related with Signal accounts," as stated in a press statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona. Some say that Signal is a secure communications app.

Earlier this week, Bateman reportedly entered a not guilty plea to the allegations, following his not guilty plea last year to three counts of child abuse in an Arizona state court.


According to reports, while incarcerated, Bateman instructed his followers in Colorado City, Arizona to erase any electronic correspondence and encouraged the females to apply for passports.

The Colorado City residence of Bateman's family was apparently raided by the state's child welfare agency and their children removed

Bateman, who was released on bond and then re-arrested earlier this week, was reportedly a target of The Associated Press.

As of Thursday, September 15th, the U.S. Attorney's Office stated that Bateman interfered with and destroyed evidence in an effort to "obstruct, influence, and impede" the federal court inquiry.

There have been reports that a federal grand jury handed down an indictment on September 6. U.S. Attorney's Office stated that Bateman was charged with three counts of obstructing justice by destroying evidence, destroying evidence in a federal investigation, and tampering with evidence in a federal investigation.

The United States Attorney's Office has stated that the maximum sentence for each offence is 20 years in prison if found guilty.

Bateman reportedly used to be a disciple of Warren Jeffs, but Jeffs publicly disavowed him in a letter to his other followers written from prison, as reported by The Associated Press. Bateman's new movement probably has less than a hundred adherents.

According to the AP, polygamy was taught by the early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Reportedly, though, the church now has outlawed such behavior.

Bateman, a pilot and survivalist with a devoted following and worldwide connections who might be able to help him financially, will remain in jail while the matter makes its way through the courts, according to the Associated Press.

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