A polygamist FLDS cult leader bribed his teenage daughter to marry him with Doritos and $50, FBI says

• The self-proclaimed leader of a polygamous cult has been accused of trafficking minors for sex.
• Samuel Bateman says he has replaced Warren Jeffs as the new prophet of the FLDS.

The self-proclaimed "prophet" of a radical polygamous sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Later-Day Saints, told his underage daughter she was meant to be his wife and carry his child, according to an FBI affidavit seen by Insider.

Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 46, is in jail on charges related to impeding an investigation into child abuse, which he has pleaded not guilty to. The FBI has accused him of trafficking girls for sex.

In the last few years, Bateman took 19 wives, including a girl as young as 9.

In 2019, though, Bateman only had one wife, and became angry with her because she didn't believe he was the new prophet of FLDS who would replace the notorious cult leader Warren Jeffs, according to the affidavit.

The FLDS, a radical group that splintered off of the mainstream Mormon church 93 years ago, has a long history of sexual and labor abuses of children in the community.

Jeffs, the group's infamous prophet, is currently serving a life sentence in a Texas prison after he was convicted of child sexual assault in relation to child marriages.

Bateman took his daughter (who was 13 or 14) at the time, to Canada, according to the affidavit, and asked her whether "she had prayed" about who she would marry. She said she was too young to think about that, and he told her she was meant to be his wife and he'd make her carry his baby.

When they stopped for a bathroom break on their drive back to Colorado City, Arizona, he bought two "big bags of Doritos" and gave it to the girl with $50, "like it was a bribe," said the affidavit, which is based on interviews with the girl. He also allegedly asked her what kind of car she wanted and said he would take her on an "airplane ride." He took her mother — his wife — on a plane ride when they were married, according to the affidavit.

At home, when Bateman told his wife he believed their daughter was meant to be his wife, she got a restraining order against him.

The FBI says he continued to communicate with the girl through a phone he gave her, telling her he wanted to hug and kiss her, and to make a baby.

On one occasion, he gave her a "nasty" kiss in front of her little brothers, which she described as "slobbery," according to the FBI.

People began contacting law enforcement about Bateman in November 2020, according to the affidavit. One woman accused him of kidnapping her grandchildren, but the parents in question said they did not object to their children being with Bateman.

Bateman's attorney didn't immediately return an email seeking comment.

A history of child abuse

Warren Jeffson, who has since left the group, is the son of the now-incarcerated FLDS prophet. He told Insider he and other children were separated from their mothers in Colorado City and taken to the "Yearning for Zion Ranch," where they were forced to follow Jeffs' teachings.

There, children were made to get up at 5 a.m. and work in the fields and were also cast out to do unpaid work for construction companies owned by members of the church. Money earned by those companies funded Jeffs' family, and the FLDS church, Jeffson and Jeffs' ex-wife told Insider.

When the ranch was raided in 2014, over 400 children were taken from the property.

Jeffs — who Bateman called "Uncle Warren" — had 70 wives

"I grew up having moms that were 15 years old," Jeffson previously told Insider. "It's not right, but he was marrying 12-year-olds, and I was told that they were my mom, and they weren't even that much older than me."