31: Trust Me: The False Prophet | Inside the Disturbing Details Behind Netflix’s New Cult Documentary

After Netflix dropped Trust Me: The False Prophet, a chilling story is back in the spotlight, and it’s even more disturbing than you might remember. At the center is Samuel Bateman, a self-proclaimed prophet who built a secretive cult within a cult, hiding shocking abuse, manipulation, and a network of followers willing to do whatever he asked. As new details emerge, including guilty pleas, kidnappings, and the unraveling of his inner circle, the question becomes how far his influence really reached and how so many people became entangled in it. Revisit everything we uncovered before, now with major updates and a deeper look at the documentary that’s bringing this case back into the public eye…. If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow the show for weekly deep dives into the darkest true crime cases! To watch the video version of this episode, head over to youtube.com/@annieelise. .🔎Join Our True Crime Club & Get Exclusive Content & Perks..🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to both of my weekly true crime series 10 to Life & Serialously with Annie Elise wherever you get your podcasts on the Annie Elise Channel!🍎 Apple Podcasts | Where you can also unlock access to 100+ and growing extra exclusive deep dives.💚 Spotify🔴 YouTube🎙️ All Other Platforms.🚩Announcements 🌸LAST CHANCE FOR SPRING MERCH!!🌸Shop now at https://annieelise.com/collections/shop-all.📸 Follow Annie on Socials Instagram: @_annieeliseTikTok: @_annieeliseSubstack: @annieeliseFacebook: @10toLife.👗 Shop Annie’s Must-Haves! ShopMY: bit.ly/AnnieElise_ShopMy Amazon: bit.ly/AnnieElise_Amazon.🫵🏻 Get Involved or Recommend a CaseAbout Annie: www.annieelise.comFor Business Inquiries: [email protected].📚 Episode Sources Trust Me: The False Prophet (Netflix)••••••••••••••••••🚨Disclaimers1️⃣ Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for watching and supporting me. 2️⃣ Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research. 3️⃣ The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the creator(s). These views are subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  A polygamous leader accused of abusing child brides. How old are you? Eleven? They're in a cult.

• 0:07Speaker 01

  Their, their brains are not their own. And witnesses could see small hands were sticking out of the back. Investigators found three young girls inside wearing wedding rings.

• 0:22Speaker 02

  Bateman amassed more than 20 wives living together in a compound.

• 0:28Speaker 00

  This arrest, beginning of Bateman's downfall.

• 0:31Speaker 03

  Put your hands behind your back.

• 0:35Annie Elise?

  On April 8th, 2026, Netflix released a new documentary called Trust Me: The False Prophet. Now, this doc highlights the crimes of a man named Samuel Bateman. And maybe for some of you, the name is unfamiliar. However, we actually have talked about Samuel before. See, he was the leader of like a cult within a cult. A bizarre offshoot of the FLDS. And with his cult, not that the FLDS with Warren Jeffs wasn't bad enough, but with his, there were so many hidden secrets and so many hidden crimes. I'm talking young nine-year-old wives, inner-family marriage, all sorts of bizarre things going on.

• 1:16Annie Elise?

  So for today's episode, I'm going to revisit the episode that we did when I first exposed everything that I knew about Samuel Bateman. When I went down like the full rabbit hole of everything that he did, all his dirty secrets, just the whole nine. However, this time, I'm going to be weaving in more recent updates about his case and what you need to know about this new documentary and some revelations that have come from that. Because I think it's really interesting, not only are you learning and seeing and witnessing this man who basically when Warren Jeffs was taken away, tried to enter in as him, as the new prophet, step into his role, but even in a darker, more twisted way, if that's even possible. But now there's also, I don't know if I would say like this point of contention, but kind

• 1:57Annie Elise?

  of where so many FLDS followers are still loyal to Warren Jeffs, but some are also loyal to Samuel Bateman. So it's kind of this weird crossroads within the FLDS. So I'm going to break off. All of it down for you, but I want you to be warned. It is certainly not an easy topic to discuss. There are a lot of weird ass things that are going on like we see in all cults, right? But we're gonna break it down together. All right, I'm Annie Elise. This is 10 to Life. Today, we are reopening the case of Samuel Bateman, and let's get into it.

• 2:40Annie Elise?

  Now, really quickly, before we get into the episode, I do want to share with you. Spring merch is officially here, but quantities are very limited. So you're gonna want to snag it now before it sells out. It sold out last time very quickly. And this is the first time we have merch back in for, gosh, almost a year now, maybe? So head to AnnieElise.com right now, secure your goods, and can't wait to see what your favorite is this time. First, let's talk about what the FLDS is, because it can be pretty confusing. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the FLDS Church, as we will be referring to it as, because that other statement and name is just like a huge mouthful. It's basically a religious sect of the Fundamentalist Mormon denominations whose members practice polygamy.

• 3:25Annie Elise?

  And just in case you aren't familiar with polygamy, polygamy is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. Usually, in most cases, it's when a man is married to multiple women at once, which you've probably heard of the show Sister Wives. It's the same kind of concept. However, in rare cases, there are some families where the women are married to multiple men as well. And TLC did a show on this called Brother Husbands, I believe it was called, and it's pretty wild, just look it up. But the FLDS emerged in the early 20th century, when its founding members were excommunicated from the Church of Latter-day Saints. Now, the LDS Church is not to be confused with the FLDS Church. Two separate things, largely because of their refusal

• 4:09Annie Elise?

  to abandon the practice of plural marriage after it was denounced by the Church in 1904. Polygamy is, in fact, illegal in the United States, and it is not a protected American However, it is almost never prosecuted because it is so hard to prove and officials do not necessarily want to disrupt family units. The FLDS are taught that they are the one and only true people of God on earth and that being part of the FLDS means that you have the highest degree of salvation. They are taught that God's picture of earth is for a man to have multiple wives and in order to reach the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, you must have at least three wives.

• 4:51Annie Elise?

  If you did reach this top tier, then in the afterlife, you would basically become a god yourself. But one thing that was never taught is what women would become, other than just a wife. And that's what we're going to learn throughout this video, that in this religion, women are seen as nothing more than a piece of property, a possession, if you will. This community is known to take place in two neighboring towns, Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. It is widely known as the Short Creek Community. These two places border each other and really are one of the most unwelcoming places in the country. This community is historically known for its practice of polygamy. Rulon Jeffs led this organization until his death in 2002.

• 5:36Annie Elise?

  He died at the age of 92 and according to documents, it's believed that he had approximately 65 wives and 62 children. I mean, guys, talk about overkill. One of those 62 children was a son named Warren Jeffs, who was born nearly two months prematurely in 1955. Now, I'm sure even if you don't know all of the inner workings of the FLDS, you probably are familiar with the name Warren Jeffs. And every time I hear his voice, it sends a shiver down my spine or up my spine. I don't know what the correct phrase is for that, but like the creepiest voice, you'll hear a little bit of it later, but like. I can't. Okay.

• 6:18Annie Elise?

  So anyways, now his mother Marilyn always pushed Warren to be close with his father Roulan. She thought that he was so special because of his circumstances of surviving, being premature. She stated that previous prophets had visited her in a dream and told her that Warren was going to be a very special person. So this made Warren grow up to have this holier-than-thou type complex and personality. And he wasn't liked by many people growing up. He was awkward, weird, and kinda nerdy, if I'm being honest. But he had this proud way of being able to read people, to pick up on what was important to them, and to use that to manipulate and control them. So as Warren's father's health was declining, this is when he really began to grow closer

• 7:01Annie Elise?

  to Roulan and started slowly taking over. His teachings became even scarier. He began to teach more about God's wrath and basically told the people of the church that they were going to be destroyed and cleansed off of the face of the earth if they did not live according to the FLDS and to submit to all of the prophets' teachings, because it was directly from God Himself. It was all fear-based to get these people to conform to His ways. In 2002, after Roulan died, Warren's fully took over. And everybody was very confused by the death, because they were always taught that he would never die, that he was going to become young again. They were taught that he was supposed to be the last prophet, the one to bring them into the millennium. So people were scared.

• 7:45Annie Elise?

  They didn't know what was supposed to happen now. And what were his 65 wives now supposed to do? And all of his children? So many people just waited for him to literally sit up and come alive again and be renewed again. In the many weeks after Roulan's funeral, Warren was speaking as though his father was renewed and that his father had just assumed his body now, like reincarnated into Warren's body. And slowly, over time, and with much manipulation, people began to believe that Warren was the next prophet of God. Now Warren first came onto investigators' radar after discovering that hundreds of teenage young boys were being kicked out of the FLDS community, leaving them Homeless. This all happened and you had the Lost Boys who were essentially homeless.

• 8:29Annie Elise?

  And Warren went on to have many, many, many, many more women. He had a total of 87 wives with the youngest one being 12 years old. Mary Ann Jessup is known as the youngest wife of Warren Jeffs. On July 27th, 2006, 12-year-old Mary Ann was escorted to the temple by her parents. She hadn't even had her first menstrual cycle yet. There, she was sealed for time and all eternity to Warren Jeffs. During the wedding ceremony, they were expected to consummate the marriage, where Warren truly assaulted Mary Ann while many of his other wives watched.

• 9:10Annie Elise?

  In June of 2005, Warren was charged in Arizona with assault on a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual misconduct, again of a minor. In July, the Arizona Attorney General's Office released Wanted posters, rewarding $10,000 seeking information leading to the arrest of Warren Jeffs. In April of 2006, a warrant for Warren's arrest was issued in Utah for felony charges for accomplice of R A P E of a teenage girl between the ages of 14 and 18 years old. At this point, due to the multiple charges being filed in multiple states, the FBI got involved and they put this false prophet wannabe

• 9:51Annie Elise?

  on their FBI 10 Most Wanted list and offered a $60,000 reward, which was soon raised to $100,000. However, Warren continued to arrange his child bride marriages up until his arrest in 2006.

• 10:13Annie Elise?

  September of 2007, he was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison. And now this brings us to Samuel Bateman, the man who was more than eager to fill this void and to step into his place. 46-year-old Samuel Bateman was raised in the F L D S faith in that Short Creek community. He came from an extremely unpopular family in the community and to be on Honest, this guy grew up to be the biggest loser of them all. Honestly, just a sorry piece of crap with like small man syndrome. Honestly, honestly, and you're gonna, you're gonna see why in a second. In 1999, something happened in Samuel's life that would change his personality and really dictate his future path from here on out.

• 10:54Annie Elise?

  A group of young people from Short Creek were heading to another polygamist community in northern Canada known as Bountiful British Columbia. Known as Bountiful British Columbia. Four men in their late teens and early twenties, one of these men being Samuel, were escorting two teenage girls to this location. 14 year old Victoria Cook and 15 year old Jamie Cook. These girls were both sisters who had been caught acting out and sneaking out of their houses to meet with boys. Which as we know in the FLDS community is extremely forbidden. The then prophet, Roulan Jeffs, had been meeting with their parents and it was his decision to send Jamie and her sister to a man named Winston Blackmore. This person was the leader of the community up north.

• 11:39Annie Elise?

  And by the way, this guy had over 150 children and 27 wives, also many of whom were underage. It was Roulan's opinion that spending time with Winston would set the Cook sisters straight and remind them of the proper way to honor God. He also thought that they would make good wives for some of the men up there. So as they were driving through the night through Montana, the driver either fell asleep or hit black ice, unclear. But all Victoria remembers is being abruptly woken up when the suburban that they were in rolled. All of the passengers were ejected from the vehicle and Victoria remembered seeing Samuel lying nearby wailing and moaning in pain.

• 12:21Annie Elise?

  Everyone was airlifted to a nearby hospital and out of all of the passengers, Samuel and Victoria were the most injured. Samuel reportedly suffered from a brain injury and those that knew him reported that this is when a flip just kind of switched in him. He was apparently never the same again and his personality totally changed. He became even more strict and devout in his religious beliefs. Samuel struggled throughout his life. He made excuses for himself constantly. He never really valued up to anything at all. He was honestly just kind of like a total loser. In 2019, Samuel was financially struggling as well because he apparently was not good at his job as an insurance salesman and he wasn't making any money.

• 13:03Annie Elise?

  He and a group of other FLDS members traveled to Nebraska to find work. And while in Nebraska, something came up about how no one has had any direct instructions from Warren Jeffs since 2010. It's been nine years now. So they started questioning things and theorizing off of each other. So they all decided to pray directly to the Heavenly Father, hoping for some answers as to what was to come next and what to do next. Samuel came back and he informed the others that he had received a vision, another vision, another vision on a mountaintop. And this vision that he says he had was that Warren Jeffs had not been in touch with them because he had died while he was in prison. Samuel also added that he had gotten instructions from the Heavenly Father that he was supposed

• 13:48Annie Elise?

  to be the new prophet. Which by the way, Warren Jeffs is most definitely not dead. He is very much alive and he's actually even denounced Samuel as a prophet. But keep in mind that a lot of these people don't have access to the internet. They don't have the resources to be able to look up this information themselves and validate it. So they pretty much just believed anyone who says that they've had a vision from Heavenly Father because who are they to question God? The other members were convinced and they followed Samuel back to the Short Creek Community in 2021, where he basically just assumed power. And like I said, no one is going to question God in this community, so they all just took to it. Samuel immediately became obsessed with accumulating money and material things, even though he

• 14:33Annie Elise?

  didn't have a job. He also became obsessed with getting wives. He made all of his male followers go out to work and give him a percentage of their earnings while also giving them some of their wives and even their daughters, this like exchange of sorts. A former follower of this fake prophet named Morani Johnson told the Daily Mail how the 46-year-old took advantage of the deep-sea Fundamentalist Mormon faith and controlled him with a toxic mix of physical, mental, and even sexual targeted assaults. So devoted to his faith, Morani allowed Samuel to marry several of his wives and most of his daughters. He also funded his lavish lifestyle, which included two homes in Colorado City and multiple

• 15:17Annie Elise?

  Bentley's, the car, like money, money, money. He took part in the most humiliating rituals that were demanded by Samuel as well. On one occasion, he was even made to have sex with one of his wives in front of their daughter in order to show them, the daughters, how to please Samuel. Sick, sick, sick. In May of 2020, the wife of Morani claimed that Samuel came into their home and took several of their daughters, including the youngest, who was just nine years old. This wife also believes that Samuel R A P E'd her nine-year-old daughter because the older daughters communicated to her that the younger daughter had been wetting the bed.

• 15:57Annie Elise?

  They also stated that by her wetting the bed, it disgusted and enraged Samuel, especially when the urine would get on him while they were sleeping, which, why are you sleeping in the same bed as a nine-year-old? You creep, creep, creep. It was said that Morani was in anguish and extreme stress about having to give his youngest daughter to Samuel, but despite that, he still remained an obedient follower. He made a statement later saying, "We were taught perfect obedience procedures, perfect faith. If there is a supreme being, wouldn't you want to meet him?" He, meaning Samuel, prayed on our devotion to scripture. And just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, Samuel even laid claim to his

• 16:39Annie Elise?

  own teenage daughter, bribing her with $50, two large bags of Doritos, and a promise of riding on an airplane if she would agree to be his wife. His daughter. So now it's like you're getting in your own bloodline, you want your daughter to be your wife? It is sick. It, it is, I, I need a new word for sick. I need a new word for sick. It is like horrifying, humiliating, disgusting, nerve-grinding, gut-wrenching, you name it. Now this all was way too much for Lydia, his first wife. She told him that their daughter would never be his wife. She then took their daughter and left, eventually filing for divorce and negotiating a custody

• 17:22Annie Elise?

  agreement that banned Samuel from ever having any contact with his daughter again. I mean, hero status right here. And honestly, just good for her because this is the first and the only time in this story that we see one of these women have the wherewithal to actually protect their children and not sell them off, not bring them to the temple on a silver platter for these gross, perverted men. But Samuel Bateman's reign, although aggressive and swift in as far as how quickly it came on, it didn't last long, not long at all, because he's an actual idiot. On August 28th, 2022, Samuel Bateman was pulled over in Flagstaff, Arizona, after a patrol officer noticed small fingers and small hands sticking out of a wooden horse

• 18:07Annie Elise?

  trailer that was being pulled by a truck. Authorities reported that inside this unventilated trailer, they found three girls, ages 11 to 14, who were using a bucket as a toilet.

• 18:19Speaker 05

  That's right. It was this situation that led to an FBI investigation into Samuel Bateman. Now, we want to warn you, while this video is edited, some may find it disturbing. Body camera video shows the moments authorities pulled over this truck and trailer in Flagstaff. The reason why?

• 18:38Speaker 03

  Saw fingers poking out of the trailer.

• 18:40Speaker 05

  With guns drawn, they opened the doors. See the hands? Finding three young girls. How old are you? 14. 14. How old are you? 11? How old are you? 12? Also inside the trailer, a couch, camping chairs, and a makeshift toilet. When they tried questioning the girls, this woman in the maroon dress stepped in. Basically telling them they're not. Then one of the officers noticed. 14-year-old, she had a ring on her finger, on her ring finger. They've all kind of. Hidden those. I mean, they're, we, we, we know what's going on here. Police say the person driving the truck is this man, Samuel Bateman. Court documents claim Bateman is a self-proclaimed prophet, part of the polygamist group with the FLDS.

• 19:24Speaker 05

  Investigators say Bateman has dozens of followers and more than 20 wives, many of them underage. He's also accused of sexually abusing multiple girls, trafficking them across state lines.

• 19:35Speaker 03

  As you can see, it's a pretty serious deal here, sir.

• 19:37Speaker 05

  Police tried to question him about the trailer. How many other people in the truck? But Bateman refuses to answer. How many other people are in the truck? When another officer tries.

• 19:50Speaker 03

  Explain to me what's going on. Hold down.

• 19:52Speaker 05

  Bateman was eventually arrested.

• 19:54Speaker 03

  Put your hands behind your back. Put your hands behind your back.

• 19:57Annie Elise?

  Samuel was taken into custody, arrested, and booked into the Kokonino County Jail. He was charged with three counts of child endangerment, but was released from state custody when one of his followers, Torrance Bistline, posted his $150,000 bail using a business check from a company called Veloci Rapper, which is a company founded by the Bistline family, where they build self-propelled wrapping cable machines for wind and solar farms. And the Bistline family are huge followers of Samuel, no surprise. And Samuel is also married to one of the Bistline daughters, Naomi. So when Samuel was in jail, he managed to get instructions to his followers that they should go ahead and delete electronic evidence off of their cellphones,

• 20:40Annie Elise?

  specifically whatever communications they had within the app called Signal. Signal is an app that promises end-to-end encrypted instant messaging, where users can communicate with one another with the promise of privacy and security. Nobody outside of the conversation can read what's being said, not even the developers of the app, not the police, not even the government. After Samuel was bailed out of jail and he returned to his followers, he allegedly continued to get rid of this evidence and started securing passports for some of his wives. But in the early morning hours of September 13th, 2022, dozens of armed FBI agents raided the Short Creek Community yet again.

• 21:22Annie Elise?

  Specifically, they raided two homes that were affiliated with Samuel Bateman, as well as the business address for that velociraptor city. Velociraptor, it's not the dinosaur, it's velociraptor, sorry guys. Which we know was obviously also affiliated with Samuel. But I guess a velociraptor, like a predator, it kinda works, it works, whatever. So they went into the two houses. A greenhouse where he lived with his wives and a blue house that was about two blocks away from the greenhouse, where Marani Johnson lived with two other brothers named Torrance and Ladall Bisline. At the greenhouse where he lived, there was a white trailer that had been converted into a sewing room for all of his wives. When you enter this green home in the foyer, or the prayer room in this instance, you will see a big picture.

• 22:07Annie Elise?

  In the framed picture is a 40-bedroom, multimillion-dollar compound with words that say "coming soon." Kind of like a vision board. They were basically vision boards framed in this room that consisted of photos of private jets, mansions, ATVs, Bentleys, Range Rovers, all these physical things that Samuel was going to pretty much will into existence. In other words, steal enough money from his followers to be able to build this compound and purchase all of these materialistic things. Next to the vision boards, you'll see this picture of Warren Jeffs himself. On the photo, it says "he is free." Because you know, these people are all still convinced that he's dead, that he is no longer alive and that Samuel is their new prophet.

• 22:51Annie Elise?

  The blue house was a bit bigger, and it had bunk beds for all of the women to sleep in. There's also photos of Warren Jeffs and previous FLDS leaders. At the warehouse, they seized hard drives, computers, his birth certificate, handwritten notes, journals, several cellphones, and even two adult toys. Gross. Samuel Bateman was taken back into custody again, and the Arizona Child Protective Services removed nine underage girls from the Short Creek community. Those nine girls were interviewed and placed into group homes pending dependency proceedings. A dependency proceeding is basically where they're going to determine whether these girls' parents or guardians are fit enough to take care of them or not.

• 23:32Annie Elise?

  The nine underage girls were taken into custody and given initial interviews. During these interviews, none of them disclosed any sort of assaults or anything like that on the part of Samuel Bateman. But one girl did say that she was present and partially nude during one of his infamous sex group gatherings. The word starts with an "O", I don't know if I can say it on YouTube, so I'm not gonna say it, but you know where I'm going, like a group sex activity. The agents ended up scheduling additional interviews with five of the nine girls who stated that they had once slept in the same bed as Samuel, or they had written in their journals about kissing and touching him. According to the FBI, the girls refused to participate or cooperate fully in the interview, and the federal agents

• 24:17Annie Elise?

  claimed that they believed that some of the older girls were influencing the younger girls not to talk. And we definitely know that the three wives, Naomi, Donna, and Moreta, were definitely influencing these underage girls, their sister wives, not to talk to authorities. So the nine girls were separated from each other, and they were kept with their siblings and placed in different group homes around Arizona. During the time in those homes, one of the girls did disclose that she had, in fact, been assaulted by Samuel. Then, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, eight of the nine girls vanished from the homes that they were placed in, and their electronics that were left behind had suggested that the girls were still in contact with the three older wives, Naomi, Donna, and Moreta, using that

• 25:01Annie Elise?

  Signal app, the encrypted app that nobody can see what the messages are. So at around 8:30 PM, the night that the girls left the group home, Samuel Bateman made a video call from jail to his adult wives. This video call was recorded because he was in jail, of course, and I feel like anyone in jail would know that they are being recorded. But apparently Samuel Bateman has the IQ of like a roach and had no idea. In this video, it shows two adult wives sitting in the car. One is driving and one is in the passenger seat. The one in the passenger seat was the one holding the phone. The wife in the passenger seat informed Samuel that they had two of the minor wives with them and used code names E1 and E2. At around 7:30 AM the next morning,

• 25:46Annie Elise?

  he made another call, recorded video call from jail to one of his adult wives. In this video, it looked like they were in a hotel room of some sort. And Samuel asked why W2, which is another code name for the girl who decided not to run away from DCFS custody, he asked why she was not with them. Now, court records show that the girl referred to as W2 was between the ages of 11 and 12 years old. And Samuel Bateman took her in as a new wife in May of 2020, which made her around nine or 10 years old when she was forced to marry Samuel, who was in his 40s. The wife informed Samuel that W2 was the only wife who had not left with them, but that they tried to get her to leave.

• 26:29Annie Elise?

  So during this call, the camera panned from the two adult wives to the eight underaged girls. Samuel then asked the question, "Are you in our state?" Which one of the adult wives replied, "No, the mothers are in Arizona and heading to New Mexico with the babies." The FBI eventually learned that a credit card, which belonged to the cousin of one of the wives, had been used to rent an Airbnb. So on November 28th, an emergency disclosure request was made to the Airbnb company. And the request was basically asking for the address of the house, that the credit card number was used to book the house and any other houses booked with that same credit card or the cousin's name. By November 30, Airbnb provided law enforcement with an address in Spokane, Washington.

• 27:13Annie Elise?

  This house was reserved from November 29 to December 2. So on December 1, a sergeant with the Spokane County Sheriff's Department knocked on the door to the Airbnb, but nobody answered. His backup witnessed the occupants of the house attempting to leave in a vehicle with the driver identified as Moreta, one of Samuel's wives. The police pulled over the vehicle and all eight of Samuel Bateman's underage wives were in the car and recovered. The three wives, Naomi, Donae, and Moreta, were all arrested and charged of kidnapping and impeding a foreseeable prosecution. The three of them are now awaiting a federal trial, where they are facing 20 years to life in prison, which rightfully so. Naomi Bissline is actually relieved that she is away from it all, and stated that she

• 27:58Annie Elise?

  doesn't want any contact with anybody involved in the FLDS. She's currently awaiting her next court appearance. Her lawyer put out a statement saying this: "She's beginning to understand how victimized she was. She's realizing that she has loving family members, independent of the cult, that are out there to support her, and she was, for the most part, cut off from all of them." As of October 2023, Naomi was still behind bars awaiting her next federal court appearance. She had been charged with obstruction of justice and kidnapping. And this was all tied to deleting evidence at Samuel's directive and helping move underage girls across state lines for him. Now, over the following year, she remained part of the larger federal prosecution against

• 28:43Annie Elise?

  Samuel's inner circle. Then, on December 3, 2024, Naomi was formally sentenced in federal court in Phoenix. Her conviction was really centered on obstructing an official proceeding and helping transport minors, so essentially, carrying out Samuel's orders to hide evidence and to move his underage wives, if you can even call them that. This was all, too, as the FBI was closing in on him, on closing in on the scheme, the secrets. As of mid-2025, Naomi is still in federal custody, serving her sentence. The exact term wasn't publicly listed in the reporting that we reviewed, but the charges that she pleaded to mean that she will remain incarcerated for a significant period of time.

• 29:27Annie Elise?

  Meanwhile, the lawyer for Danae echoed what Naomi's lawyer said about victimization, and added, "She has been catapulted into a world foreign to her, and her incarceration is compounding the trauma that she's already endured in her young life." Danae is experiencing unimaginable agony being separated from her child. This is also the first time she has been separated from her mother, sister, and other close family members. By late 2023, Danae had been indicted for conspiracy to commit kidnapping and tampering with an official proceeding. Then, in August of 2024, she entered a plea agreement in federal court. She pled guilty to obstruction, admitting that, yes, she did delete messages for Samuel and help conceal evidence.

• 30:10Annie Elise?

  In exchange, prosecutors dropped the much more serious kidnapping charges. But she also admitted her role in the kidnapping plot itself, helping pick up some of the girls, transporting them out of Arizona, and then reconnecting them with Samuel's adult wives while they all were trying to hide. So at sentencing, the judge took several factors into account, including the 20 months that she had already spent awaiting resolution, plus her history of trauma, coercion within the sect of this FLDS breakout group, the fact that she has a young daughter with a very rare terminal medical condition. And in the end, instead of more prison time, she received time served, six months of house arrest, three years of probation,

• 30:53Annie Elise?

  mandatory life skills, and GED programming. She also had a ban on contact with Samuel, victims, or any active polygamist sects. As of now, she remains under court-supervised release, not incarceration. By late 2023, Moreta had been charged with kidnapping, conspiracy, transporting minors, and tampering, all tied to helping Samuel hide and move underage girls. Then, on February 6, 2025, she became one of the latest followers of his to formally plead guilty.

• 31:27Annie Elise?

  She admitted that she played a direct role in removing the girls from Arizona state custody and then relocating them as part of the sect's plan to keep the children away from investigators. Her plea marked another major step in the case, too, shifting her from an indicted accomplice to a convicted co-conspirator. Her exact sentencing details also weren't fully listed in the available reporting, but as of mid-2025, she is officially a convicted participant in the trafficking and kidnapping scheme. Now, here's a clear look at how the prosecutions around Samuel have unfolded since we last covered this case. In early 2024, several of Samuel's close followers appeared in federal court,

• 32:11Annie Elise?

  and they entered not guilty pleas to an extensive list of charges. Prosecutors laid out just how large Samuel's operation really was, too. I mean, more than 20 wives, 10 of which included minors, and a coordinated network designed to hide abuse victims and destroy evidence as the investigators were closing in. But as the trial approached, things began to shift. Like I touched on above, more and more of Samuel's wives started flipping, admitting that they had not only helped hide his abuse, but that they had watched or participated in sex acts involving underage girls, that they helped plan and carry out the kidnapping and transport of minors from state custody,

• 32:54Annie Elise?

  and that they hid all of his dirty secrets for him. So those plea deals really marked a major turning point in the case. And then came another development. One of Samuel's male followers, Morani Johnson, who we mentioned earlier in the episode, he confessed to transporting four underage girls across state lines. And he also admitted that he allowed Samuel to take some of his own daughters as what he called, quote, "spiritual brides." Not long after all of that happened and all these bombshells started coming out, Samuel himself entered a guilty plea. He admitted to taking underage girls as wives, orchestrating group sex acts involving minors, transporting girls across multiple states, and conspiring.

• 33:37Annie Elise?

  To kidnap them from state custody. So prosecutors recommended between 20 and 50 years, though one of the charges that he pled to carried a potential life sentence. And something really unusual happened with Samuel's plea when all this was going down, because it was tied directly to his followers. What I mean by that is for Samuel's deal to go through, all of the charged followers also had to plead guilty. And sure enough, by the deadline, almost all of them had. The only exception at that point was Naomi Bisflane, who had previously been found not competent. But by the end of 2024, Samuel was formally sentenced to 50 years in federal prison, essentially a life sentence. And survivors delivered very powerful and emotional statements in court,

• 34:22Annie Elise?

  describing what they endured inside his little offshoot sector of FLDS. That very same day, additional reporting confirmed the full scope of the abuse, also the transporting of minors across four states, the recording of these sex acts, the so-called atonement ceremonies, and also Samuel's claim that Warren Jeffs had died and that he was now the new prophet. So that really gave the most complete picture that the public had seen of the crimes inside his inner circle. And finally, in May of 2025, one of the most heartbreaking pieces of this entire case came to a close. Morani Johnson, the father who gave two of his daughters to Samuel Bateman,

• 35:05Annie Elise?

  was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. In fact, two of his daughters testified at his sentencing, speaking directly to the years of trauma that he allowed and that he kind of, you know, the system that he helped uphold within all of this. And what I mean by that moment being heartbreaking, it's not for him, obviously. He should have protected his daughters. But it's for his daughters, what they were put through at the hands of their own father, who they should have trusted. Now, on April 8, 2026, the new Netflix documentary was released that's titled Trust Me, The False Prophet. And it has four episodes in it. And I'll be honest, each one is definitely worth checking out because it follows two people, Christine Marie, who has a PhD.

• 35:47Annie Elise?

  in psychology and an interest in cult based human trafficking and her husband Tolga, who is a filmmaker. Now, of course, I'm not going to summarize the multiple hours worth of the documentary or docu-series rather, especially since we've already gone over everything in this episode. However, I do just want to briefly talk about the docu-series itself as a whole and a few of the things that really stood out to me. So to give you a little bit of a quick backstory, Christine and her husband moved into the FLDS community not long after Warren Jeffs was arrested. So they really came in during a moment when things started to change and when Samuel Bateman became the new, you know, head dog, big dog, whatever you want to call it. So this docu-series isn't substantial

• 36:29Annie Elise?

  because it's telling his story after the fact. It follows his rise from the very bottom to the top of the FLDS community and then him breaking off and creating his own community, you know, his sect, the Samueltees. So this is pre-arrest, pre-everything that we know now. Now, here's the thing, Christine and her husband had to do a little bit of lying because it's one of those situations where, yes, they weren't being truthful and they were deceiving, but with good intentions at the end of the day. They made Samuel, his wives and the followers believe that they were there just documenting their community, which was why Samuel and everyone else pretty much welcomed them with open arms. But not

• 37:11Annie Elise?

  too long into their stay, they started to hear rumors about Samuel's wives, specifically that he had underage wives. So behind the scenes, they started making some phone calls to the authorities and this was something that really stood out to me. And I have to say, it sent chills down my spine because Christine says that the cop that she spoke to concerning this possibility about Samuel Bateman being married to literal children, responded by saying, "It's not a crime to call someone your wife, even if it's a child. What is a crime is to do something with that child, something like assault that child." Which I can't even tell you how far off base that is. If there is a man saying that some eight-year-old little girl is his wife, it is concerning. It is concerning.

• 37:53Annie Elise?

  So of course Christine and her husband now took that as Pretty much like a challenge. They already had the trust of the group and the people involved, including Samuel. So they were determined to get proof that there was something nefarious happening behind closed doors with Samuel and his underage wives. And what's so ironic is that Samuel was so into himself that he literally was so eager to be the face of this documentary. Though, of course, he wouldn't have been had he realized what the documentary was truly about. But at one point, they talk about how Samuel was calling them up daily, wanting them to film just like pointless stuff, things like hiking, dirt biking, anything to be on camera. And there were many moments when Christine and her husband would

• 38:36Annie Elise?

  kind of just like sigh to themselves like, "I can't believe we're really about to go record Samuel hiking by himself for an hour, but we gotta play our role, we gotta get our info." They knew that it was all part of the process, part of getting that trust and getting behind the closed doors. Because even though they seemed welcoming, there were still rules. Christine wasn't ever allowed to be alone with them and get the scoop, get the truth. She had to play along. She had to go along with every whim of Samuel's of like, "film me on my dirt bike, film me hiking," because she wanted to be exposed and build that trust. And sure enough, it worked. And one random day, their moment had finally come. It was the moment when they knew that they were on the right track. Samuel had invited them over, saying that he had one of his impressions,

• 39:21Annie Elise?

  which was when God would allegedly tell him something. And he said that Christine and her husband needed to come over right away so that they could tell some of the things, so that they could see some of this and share and document what was going on. It was very vague, but they were kind of like, "Yeah, okay, sure." And then, once they got there, Samuel said that he, Christine, her husband, and three of the girls needed to get into his Bentley and go for a drive. However, now, he said no cameras, which obviously, that was incredibly sketchy. Christine still, though, had her purse with her, and inside, once they got into the car, she snuck it out and she hit record. And apparently, in that moment, that is when Samuel finally confessed, kind of. He said that he had been told by God

• 40:03Annie Elise?

  that those three girls in the car with them, who were Samuel's Wives needed to have sex with other men in the community and that he needed to watch. One of those girls was just 13 years old. So just like that, Christine had finally caught Samuel on tape, admitting to sexually exploiting these minors, all under the guise of this impression that he got from God. It's really, really sick stuff, especially since they play this recording in the documentary. I mean, don't get me wrong, just recapping all of this is hard enough to think about and, you know, put your, wrap your mind around, but seeing these actual videos of children and hearing their small, little voices talking about the abuse that they faced, it is unreal.

• 40:45Annie Elise?

  And really, I think that the most disturbing thing about this entire documentary is the fact that the authorities knew about the rumors. But it was these two random people with a mission who put in the work to get the proof. Had Christine and her husband just decided that this was too much for them or that they couldn't put their lives on hold for this and that it was such a slim chance, who knows what would have happened? However, that specific recording that I just mentioned, it ended up not being enough evidence. So they had to put in a lot more work. So at the same time as they were still filming Samuel, they were also going behind his back and playing a very risky game, interviewing people, talking with people, interviewing people they knew didn't agree with Samuel, people who had allegedly witnessed Samuel with his underage wives,

• 41:28Annie Elise?

  doing things like kissing them and just being too close to them. And they were just trying to play both sides of the fence to get enough evidence. And then one of Marani's wives, Julia, began helping not only Christine, but the FBI. Now Julia wasn't only one of Marani's wives, but was also Moretta's mother. And like I mentioned earlier, Moretta was one of Samuel's most devoted wives. And Julia documented everything, things that Christine and her husband would have never had a chance to film. Which seeing Julia in this documentary, it really truly broke my heart. I think that we hear about cults and sometimes we just can think, you know, well, why don't you leave, just walk out, leave, get out. But it's never that simple. It's a cycle that you can't just get out of.

• 42:12Annie Elise?

  Julia knew what was going on and she knew that it was wrong, but she was terrified. of cops, but also terrified that if she went to them for help, they wouldn't believe her and they wouldn't do anything. Her exact quote in one of the episodes was, quote, "Will they hear the cry of one woman?" Which that just devastated me. Now Samuel threatened Julia, not even knowing what she was doing, but threatening her that he would take her children away, something that would have been all too easy to do and something that he had already done to four of her daughters, two of which were underage, including Moretta. So I mean, nothing really was ever off the table, not to mention that Julia knew that if Samuel ever even like smelled that anything was off, he would take everyone and flee.

• 42:55Annie Elise?

  So Julia knew that Samuel was growing worried and she even told the authorities about him buying a plane and making everyone passports. And after he fled, who knows where they'd all end up? And to be honest, who knows if the FBI and other authorities would even look into it? I don't know. Which think about that, I can't imagine that kind of uncertainty as a mother and that fear, but eventually all of the hard work paid off. After months and months of essentially begging local law enforcement and even getting the FBI to get involved. And then finally, as we know, they eventually did come in, arresting Samuel and saving these women and kids. I know that that was a lot to go over today, so I want to thank you for sticking with me. Cults always fascinate me. I try to get in their mind.

• 43:36Annie Elise?

  I try to figure out what the motivation is, which personally, I feel like more times than not, especially with these Mormon radicalized cults, I think it's so that they can be with underage women. I mean, why is it that you're the prophet and God is telling all of you, coincidentally, that you need to take a young bride? I mean, you're a pervert, right? So anyway, I know that this one was difficult, but thank you for listening. As a reminder, the uncensored version of all of these episodes live on my podcast where I don't have to bleep a dang thing. So you can listen to those anytime. I have two different true crime podcasts. One is called Serialishly, with new episodes every Monday and Thursday. And then we also have the second true crime podcast, 10 to Life, which is where this

• 44:17Annie Elise?

  episode is housed and also uncensored and new episodes every single Tuesday. So again, thank you so much for listening and until the next one, stay safe. Bye.