Trust Me: The False Prophet follows Christine Marie and Tolga Katas’ mission to take down Samuel Bateman, a leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). Bateman rose to power after the church’s former leader, Warren Jeffs, was convicted of sexual crimes against minors and sentenced to life in prison. He proclaimed himself the chosen prophet to succeed Jeffs and coerced members into giving him their wives and daughters as spiritual wives.
Bateman acquired at least 20 spiritual wives, 10 of whom were minors. While at that, he organized group sexual activities involving minors, among other depraved sexual crimes. To bring him to justice, Marie and Katas secretly gathered evidence of his crimes, posing as filmmakers documenting his teachings to spread his message worldwide. The Netflix exposé did justice to the Samuel Bateman story, but left out some crucial details.
Samuel Bateman’s Father Tried To Pull Him Away From The FLDS
@netflix In this true-crime documentary, a cult expert and filmmaker infiltrate a polygamist sect to expose a self-proclaimed prophet and bring him to justice. Trust Me: The False Prophet is now on Netflix
After Samuel Bateman’s deeds came to light and led to his arrest in 2022, the public wondered how he had evaded facing legal consequences for years. The Netflix docuseries addressed this, detailing how Bateman’s crimes eventually caught up with him. However, Trust Me: The False Prophet didn’t look into how Bateman’s actions might have been prevented if his father had succeeded in severing his ties with the church years earlier.
Bateman’s father, DeLoy Bateman, left the church in the late 1990s after Warren Jeff tried to reassign his kids to another family. Unfortunately, three of his oldest, including Samuel, opted to remain with the church. DeLoy decried this when Jeff was arrested in 2006, expressing hope for Jeff to spend the rest of his life behind bars for breaking up his family. DeLoy condemned Jeffs’ action and celebrated his arrest, but couldn’t prevent what became of his eldest son.
Bateman And Moroni Johnson Had Sex To Become Eternally Bonded
When Samuel Bateman rose to power in 2019, he spearheaded a breakaway group known as the Samuelites, and soon consolidated his position as Warren Jeffs’ successor. Moroni Johnson was one of Bateman’s ardent followers at the time. He was married to Julia Johnson (among other women), with whom he had several daughters. Johnson gave away four of his daughters to the self-acclaimed prophet as spiritual wives. Trust Me: The False Prophet delved into that while exploring Bateman’s sexual crimes. But it didn’t dig into the nature of Bateman’s relationship with Johnson.
As culled from a 2022 affidavit in support of probable cause against Bateman, he didn’t only have his way with Moroni’s daughters, but also with Moroni himself. This was right before he made Moroni and his wife have sex if front of their daughters so they could learn how to please the prophet. An excerpt from the affidavit reads: “Bateman directed Moroni to call JJ [his wife] and have her bring BB and MJ to a local motel… Bateman and Moroni were lying naked on the two beds. Bateman had the three ladies take off their clothes and join the men…”
“Bateman had Moroni and JJ have sex in front of BB and MJ (Moroni and JJ’s daughter) to teach them how to better pleasure Bateman. Bateman said before the women arrived at the motel, Bateman had Moroni perform oral sex on Bateman to make Moroni eternally bonded to Bateman.” Later, the prophet gathered members in a motel to wrap up what he termed “the Binding of Brothers act.” He made them engage in sexual acts for the atonement of their sins while he watched. This was in December 2020, and according to the affidavit, it was at that gathering that “Bateman engaged in anal sex with Moroni.”
Where Are Bateman And Moroni Now?
After his arrest, Bateman faced multiple sex-related and child trafficking charges. He accepted a plea bargain that saw the prosecutor drop most of the charges against him. However, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to transport a minor for criminal sexual activity. For each of those, he received a 50-year concurrent sentence and a lifetime supervised release.
Bateman has been in prison since he was sentenced in December 2024, just like Moroni, who’s serving a 25-year sentence. While Moroni has become remorseful about his crime, the same can’t be said about Bateman, who continues to lead his members from prison. According to the docuseries’ director, Rachel Dretzin, being in prison has strengthened Bateman’s hold on his followers, who now think of him as a martyr. Check out these behind-the-scenes facts about Ryan Gosling’s space sci-fi, Project Hail Mary.
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