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A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 8 december 2022
FBI: Polygamous leader had 20 wives, many of them minors

By FELICIA FONSECA child sex trafficking and po- same tactic that has been
Associated Press lygamy, but none of his cur- used in the past or whether
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The rent charges relate to those there’s more to the story,
leader of a small polyga- allegations. Polygamy is ille- only time will tell,” he said.
mous group near the Arizo- gal in Arizona but was de- The office of Bateman’s at-
na-Utah border had taken criminalized in Utah in 2020. torney in the federal case,
at least 20 wives, most of Arizona Department of Adam Zickerman, declined
them minors, and punished Child Services spokesper- to comment Tuesday.
followers who did not treat son Darren DaRonco and Bateman lived in Colorado
him as a prophet, newly FBI spokesperson Kevin City among a patchwork of
filed federal court docu- Smith declined to com- devout members of the po-
ments allege. ment on the case Tuesday. lygamous FLDS, ex-church
Samuel Bateman was a for- Bistline’s attorney didn’t members and those who
mer member of the Funda- respond to a request for don’t practice the beliefs.
mentalist Church of Jesus comment, and Barlow’s Polygamy is a legacy of
Christ of Latter-Day Saints, attorney declined to com- the early teachings of The
or FLDS, until he left to ment. Johnson didn’t have Church of Jesus Christ of
start his own small offshoot a publicly listed attorney. Latter-day Saints, but the
group. He was supported The FBI affidavit filed in the mainstream church aban-
financially by male follow- women’s case largely cen- doned the practice in 1890
ers who also gave up their ters on Bateman, who pro- and now strictly prohibits it.
own wives and children to claimed himself a prophet Bateman often traveled to
be Bateman’s wives, ac- in 2019. Bateman says he Nebraska where some of
cording to an FBI affidavit. was told by former FLDS his other followers lived and
The document filed Friday leader Warren Jeffs to in- internationally to Canada
provides new insight into voke the “Spirit of God on and Mexico for confer-
what investigators have This undated photo provided by the Coconino County Sheriff’s these people.” The affidavit ences. When Bateman was
found in a case that first Office shows Samuel Bateman, who faces state child abuse details explicit sexual acts arrested earlier this year, he
became public in August, charges, and federal charges of tampering with evidence. that Bateman and his fol- instructed his followers to
when authorities said they Associated Press lowers engaged in to fulfill obtain passports and to de-
pulled over Bateman on a evidence. He pleaded not in Spokane, Washington. “Godly duties.” lete messages sent through
highway and discovered guilty in September. Bateman was arrested in Jeffs is serving a life sen- an encrypted system, au-
he was driving three young Bistline and Barlow are August when someone tence in a Texas prison for thorities said.
girls in an enclosed trailer. scheduled to appear in spotted small fingers in the child sex abuse related to He demanded that his fol-
The latest filing accom- federal magistrate court in gap of a trailer he was haul- underage marriages. lowers confess publicly
panied charges of kid- Flagstaff on Wednesday. ing through Flagstaff. He Criminal defense attorney for any indiscretions, and
napping and impeding a Johnson is awaiting extradi- posted bond but was ar- Michael Piccarreta, who shared those confessions
foreseeable prosecution tion from Washington state. rested again and charged represented Jeffs on Arizo- widely, according to the
against three of Bateman’s The women are accused of with obstructing justice in na charges that were dis- FBI affidavit.
wives Naomi Bistline, Don- seizing eight of Bateman’s a federal investigation into missed, said the state has He claimed the punish-
nae Barlow and Moretta children from Arizona state whether children were be- a history of trying to take ments, which ranged from
Rose Johnson. Bateman is custody and fleeing with ing transported across state a stand against polygamy a time out to public sham-
already facing state and them. The children were lines for sexual activity. by charging relatively mi- ing and sexual activity,
federal charges of child found last week hundreds Court records allege that nor offenses to build bigger came from the Lord, the af-
abuse and tampering with of miles (kilometers) away Bateman, 46, engaged in cases. “Whether this is the fidavit states. q

Border Patrol agent dies in ATV accident during Texas patrol

MISSION, Texas (AP) — A agent died at a hospital. were injured after a Jeep
U.S. Customs and Border “The death of an Agent being pursued by Border
Patrol agent died Wednes- who died while securing Patrol agents crashed into
day after an all-terrain ve- our nation’s border is a tre- the back of a tractor-trailer
hicle accident while pa- mendous loss for our orga- on the interstate near the
trolling along the border in nization and our nation, our Texas border city of Enci-
south Texas, according to prayers are with his family nal. In January, Texas De-
the agency. and co-workers during this partment of Public Safety
The accident happened difficult time,” said U.S. Bor- Special Agent Anthony
about 1 a.m. near Mis- der Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz in Salas died after being in-
sion, Texas, along the bor- the statement. volved in a single vehicle
der with Mexico, Customs The agency did not release traffic accident near Eagle
and Border Patrol said in a the identity of the agent Pass while working with U.S.
statement. The agent was and declined further com- Border Patrol to transport
tracking a group of people ment. six people who had illegally
who had crossed the bor- The Texas-Mexico border immigrated to the U.S.Last
der illegally. has seen multiple deadly year, an Austin man was
Fellow agents found the accidents in recent years charged in the deaths
man unresponsive, be- stemming from immigra- of eight migrants after a
gan life-saving efforts and tion-related pursuits. deadly crash near the bor- An ATV vehicle is removed from the scene where a border patrol
agent was killed on Wednesday Dec. 7, 2022 in Mission, Texas.
called for an ambulance, In June, four migrants died der city of Del Rio following Associated Press
the statement said. The and three other people a police chase.q