Chilling untold story of the 'False Prophet' and his 'child brides'... and their tragic fate once Netflix cameras stopped rolling

By TOM LEONARD, US CORRESPONDENT Published: 01:37, 18 April 2026 | Updated: 01:42, 18 April 2026 It's early afternoon one day in late August 2022 and police have arrived in force to surround a truck that is hauling a box trailer. It has been stopped after little fingers were spotted gripping the trailer door as the vehicle sped down a highway in Flagstaff, Arizona. Hands on their guns, the officers watch warily to see who or what emerges. But they clearly weren't expecting a succession of seven young women - including three underage girls as young as ten – to come out, holding their hands above their heads as the police have ordered. They are all identically clad in prairie dresses with their equally long hair tied up in elaborate but dated-looking arrangements that evoke Victorian times. Most of them were travelling in the windowless trailer where they had only a battered sofa to sit on, no air conditioning and a bucket for a toilet. They'd been gripping the trailer door to stop it coming open on the highway, an eventuality that could have had horrendous consequences. The only man with them, Samuel Bateman, is handcuffed and bundled into a police cruiser. He initially refuses to give his name, and the women are similarly uncooperative, staring blankly at the officers in answer to their questions. They are only following orders but for good reason. The officers notice that most of them - including one as young as 14 - are trying to hide the wedding rings they're wearing. In fact, all of them, including the children, are 'married' to Bateman, the man they call 'Father' and the self-proclaimed prophet who leads their small but zealous polygamist sect. Police are on the cusp of charging Bateman when the FBI intervenes. The bureau is preparing to charge him and his predatory cronies with far more serious offenses over their child sex ring, so he will remain at large for the next few weeks while they shore up their case. The bizarre episode is included in an enthralling new Netflix documentary series, Trust Me: The False Prophet, which is currently the streaming giant's most watched show in the US. Samuel Bateman is the self-proclaimed prophet who leads a small but zealous polygamist sect and the subject of new Netflix documentary series In 2022, police found seven young women - including three underage girls as young as ten – wearing prairie dresses in a windowless truck trailer. All of them, including the children, are 'married' to Bateman, the man they call 'Father' Trust Me: The False Prophet is currently the streaming giant's most watched show in the US The four-part series is in some ways a documentary within a documentary, relying heavily on the extraordinary access to the usually shy sect – a splinter group of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) - gained by an enterprising couple of amateur film-makers. Husband and wife duo, Tolga Katas and Christine Marie, moved to the insular FLDS community in Short Creek, a remote area on the Utah-Arizona border, in 2016. The determined and quirky Christine - an avenging angel for abused Mormon women in pink cowboy boots who'd previously been a ventriloquist and Miss Michigan beauty queen before becoming a cult expert - set out to expose his crimes. As revealed in Trust Me, Christine and her camera-wielding husband were able to get extraordinary access to the so-called 'Samuelites' because Bateman, a ridiculous and power-crazed clown who resembles a malevolent teddy bear, wanted them to make a documentary about him. 'Believe me, it was so hard keeping a straight face,' she now tells the Daily Mail of her interactions with Bateman, who she endlessly flattered. The result, is a documentary that provides a rare and chilling insight into the inner workings of a cult. The FLDS, a breakaway movement from Mormonism that is widely regarded as a cult, had been in turmoil ever since its leader, Warren Jeffs, was jailed for life in 2011 after being convicted of child sexual assault charges relating to some of the youngest members of his 78-strong harem of wives. Christine Marie, a former mainstream Mormon who'd herself married a man who convinced her he was a prophet, and Tolga were anxious to help the 'brainwashed' women and girls in the FLDS through their charity, Voices for Dignity. Their lives had been thrown into disarray because Jeffs had issued an edict that, if he was confined in prison, his flock should share the burden with him. He banned them from having sex or marrying, and they obeyed. (Mormons regard procreation as a divine responsibility - observing God's injunction, in Genesis, to Adam and Eve to 'be fruitful and multiply'). Although it had been widely assumed that the women and children of the FLDS were finally safe with Jeffs behind bars, Christine discovered they faced a new predator. Bateman, one of her neighbors, was an underwhelming local FLDS man who admitted he'd been 'broken' by a failed marriage and financial trouble. However, after Jeffs stopped communicating from prison, Bateman started claiming in 2019 that he was the new prophet. He was able to convince some 50 FLDS members pining for leadership that Jeffs was dead and was instead communicating through him as his chosen spiritual successor. Exploiting how FLDS women are indoctrinated from birth to be unquestioningly obedient to their husbands and to produce as many children as possible, he started taking wives – some of them, it was rumored, underage. In fact, he 'married' - in his case often just announcing they were his wives – 23 women, of whom ten were minors. Husband and wife duo, Christine Marie and Tolga Katas, infiltrated the insular FLDS community in Short Creek Exploiting how FLDS women are indoctrinated from birth to be unquestioningly obedient to their husbands and to produce as many children as possible, Bateman started taking wives – some of them, it was rumored, underage Warren Jeffs (left), the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), was jailed for life in 2011. After Jeffs stopped communicating from prison, Samuel Bateman (right) started claiming in 2019 that he was the new prophet So deluded and narcissistic that he seriously believed the late Queen Elizabeth would see the documentary and come out to become his latest wife, Bateman allowed Christine - who played him masterfully - to get evidence of his sexual abuse of underage girls that then they passed to the FBI. While doing so, they were able to extract three women followers - including two of his most loyal wives - from his clutches so they eventually gave evidence against him. In December 2024, Bateman, then aged 48, was sentenced to 50 years in prison after being convicted of sexually abusing ten girls as young as nine. All of his underage 'brides' testified against him. A string of his cronies, including male supporters and eight of his adult wives, also received prison sentences. The trial heard Bateman and his followers traveled to Nebraska, Utah, and Colorado, where they collected 'wives' and child 'brides'. None of them were legal marriages, prosecutors said. As she told the Daily Mail this week, Christine and Tolga consider their work is far from done. They still live in Colorado City, the town on the Arizona side of the FLDS heartland of Short Creek, alongside the 20 or so people – including around nine wives - who remain loyal to Bateman. What do they now do when they see the woman they previously branded as a Judas bound for Hell and who even received death threats for helping the FBI? 'They ignore me,' she said. She said she continued to 'dream' of getting all the women away from Bateman's oppressive grasp. While they were able to have some physical freedom not that he's behind bars, they still need to break free 'in a psychological sense…from the deception and coercion that he has used', she said. 'In a couple of years, I am hoping that some of the people who are still walking the path with Sam Bateman will start to question and find themselves able to separate from whatever trauma bonds they might have with him.' Christine said she didn't know if any of Bateman's remaining flock had seen the Netflix documentary, but she is certain that they will watch it at some point. 'I hope it will remind them of all the things that Sam said and did that made no sense. Or the prophecies that didn't come true.' Bateman was still able to communicate with them from prison by phone and she admitted that she feared that he could start issuing despotic 'edicts', just as Warren Jeffs did when he banned them from marrying. Not that she knows what they're doing any more. 'They're very secretive now, much more so, and they don't let me know anything,' she said. Sadly for their miserable little sect, the damage is done. The unprepossessing Bateman was, as Christine points out, hardly the usual charismatic cult leader. However, he knew exactly how to win the loyalty of FLDS longing for a new prophet to lead them out of sinful ways. He was even able to recruit far more prominent FLDS men, including Torrance Bistline (also now jailed for his involvement in the child sex ring), a wealthy local businessman. Profits from Torrance's green energy company were passed to Bateman who was soon driving around in a fleet of black Bentleys and Range Rovers. Bateman took to wearing an Elvis-style white leather jacket, which made him look even more ridiculous. Two other local FLDS leaders - Torrance's brother Ladell and Moroni Johnson -were among those who agreed to give their wives and daughters to Bateman. Most of them lived together in two houses and Bateman would flit between the two. 'What more can a girl ask for but just to belong somewhere,' said one of the young wives to explain her joy about being part of this twisted harem. Bateman invited Christine round for a dinner with more than a dozen of his 'sister wives,' letting her see how much they fawned over him and hung on his every word. After dinner, they lined up to sing like talent show contestants, including two sweet-faced ten-year-olds playing guitars. 'I had alarm bells ringing everywhere,' says Christine. 'I knew that Sam was married to a lot of these women, even some of these young women. But there were rumors he was married to the children.' As he came to trust Christine and Tolga, Bateman continued to let his guard down to the point that - travelling in his car one day - she was able to record him on her cellphone admitting that the 'Heavenly Father' had told him to allow Moroni Johnson to 'screw' one of his young wives, who was just 13, while Bateman watched.  Christine - who played him masterfully - to get evidence of his sexual abuse of underage girls that then they passed to the FBI In December 2024, aged 48, Bateman was sentenced to 50 years in prison after being convicted of sexually abusing ten girls as young as nine Christine said she didn't know if any of Bateman's remaining flock had seen the Netflix documentary, but she is certain that they will watch it at some point Bateman was even able to recruit far more prominent FLDS men, including Torrance Bistline, a wealthy local businessman who is also now jailed for his involvement in the child sex ring Two other local FLDS leaders - Torrance Bistline's brother Ladell (left) and Moroni Johnson (right) - were among those who agreed to give their wives and daughters to Bateman. Bateman admitted that the 'Heavenly Father' had told him to allow Moroni Johnson to 'screw' one of his young wives, who was just 13, while Bateman watched 'Can you comprehend the pain that I experienced?' said Bateman. 'To give the most precious thing in my entire life - my girl's virtue.' 'There could be nothing worse than another man screwing my girls.' But God, he assured Christine, had told him to do it. When Christine sent the audio recording to local police, they told her she needed to get more evidence before they could charge Bateman. It emerged that he had previously managed to quieten suspicions about his behavior with his young wives by also marrying their mothers. This meant that whenever the police or Child Protective Services were called, he could use the mothers' presence as evidence that nothing was untoward. Fortunately, a few of Bateman's deluded flock were starting to see the light. Julia Davison, wife of Moroni and mother of five of Bateman's young wives, was strongly affected after Christine told her how she herself had once been sex trafficked. Julia would become Christine's first ally within the Samuelites, the pair concealing their covert meetings at which she would pass on information such as the wives' names and birth certificates to convince the authorities to charge their prophet. She would later be joined by her daughter, Moretta, the first of Bateman's wives to turn against him. 'I knew that I have to get help and reveal to this woman the sickening things that I had done and been a part of,' says Julia in the documentary. 'It was tough for me to tell Christine how much of a fake front was being put on in her presence.' But Christine had noticed it, saying that behind the intense adoration of the women for Bateman there was fear. When he wasn't bullying and verbally abusing the women, making them endlessly write out lines such as 'Samuel, I am in holy f***ing love with you!', he would put them to work cleaning the various Airbnb rentals he owned while he sat at home surfing the internet. Christine and Julia shared their information with FBI agent Dawn Martin who oversaw the bureau's investigation into the sect. 'At a certain point, Sam Bateman was cancelling all the religious classes and at-home schooling so that he could have sex with all of the girls, all of the time,' Martin tells the documentary. He would tell them they weren't committing adultery but showing obedience. Of the twisted extent of his depravity, she said: 'He wanted to have people watching him have sex. He wanted other people to have sex while he was having sex.' She added: 'He would have the fathers having sex with other women, with their daughters in the room. Sometimes, he would have people watching by video.' By the time, some 50 FBI agents raided Bateman's homes in September 2022, he was already aware the authorities could be closing in. On the day he was arrested, Christine and Tolga managed to separate him from most of his wives – preventing what would have been emotional carnage - by arranging yet another interview with him in a studio. The nine underage wives, who were between 11 and 16, were put in a temporary group home but Bateman, still giving the orders from jail, ordered the older women to get them out. He had a particularly devoted spouse in Naomi Bistline, now 27, who is filmed endlessly kneeling at his feet or holding his hand while staring adoringly into his shiny but shifty little eyes. When one of the child wives discovered, after craftily piecing together a ripped-up note written by one of their custodians, (the wives might have been extraordinarily naïve but they could also be cunning) that Christine was an FBI mole, Naomi sent her some blisteringly vindictive text messages. It was Naomi who masterminded kidnapping the younger wives from their care home one night and driving them as far as Washington state, a short-lived escapade for which she and two other women received prison sentences. Hardly the usual charismatic cult leader, the unprepossessing Bateman took to wearing an Elvis-style white leather jacket, which made him look even more ridiculous Julia Davison, wife of Moroni and mother of five of Bateman's young wives, would become Christine's first ally within the Samuelites, the pair concealing their covert meetings at which she would pass on information Bateman had a particularly devoted spouse in Naomi Bistline, now 27, who is filmed endlessly kneeling at his feet or holding his hand while staring adoringly into his shiny but shifty little eyes Naomi spent 21 months in prison and now, she's starting her life anew Providing further evidence that the key to Bateman's hold on his harem was their close proximity to each other, even Naomi started to understand the truth about their lord and master. 'My entire life I was taught that obedience was everything - the first law of Heaven. And now here I am in prison for my perfect obedience. That was when I started to…. wonder about my beliefs,' she said. She'd been in prison for several months when on a visit to court for a hearing, she was accidentally put in a cell next to Bateman. His 'one little lie' - telling her he hadn't spoken to anyone for a year when she knew he hadn't been jailed that long - caused her question everything he'd told her. 'My whole mind shifted….I realized I had been lied to my entire life,' she said. 'I was born in lies and I couldn't even blame my parents for it. They were born in lies.' Although she thought she'd been in love with him, she realized now that it was actually 'complete fear'. She spent 21 months in prison. 'When I first got out of prison I was free for the first time in my life….I feel like I was reborn,' said Naomi. Now, she's starting her life anew. Women who are raised in polygamist sects are usually kept so detached from modern life that they struggle to cope with the most basic challenges like finding a job or a home once they're on the outside. Christine and Tolga want to raise $100,000 for the survivors of Bateman's cult through their charity, Voices For Dignity. Naomi is now at college studying psychology (because she wants to understand what happened to her) and also working with Tolga, a music producer, to achieve her 'dream' of becoming a pop singer. 'She's taking singing lessons and he's got a couple of songs already done with her,' Christine told the Daily Mail. Moretta, another of Bateman's ex-brides, 'has started a new family and a new life'. Her mother, Julia, is an hour's drive from Colorado City. 'She is strong and independent and supporting herself and has a relationship with all of her daughters again,' said Christine. Julia said she 'learned some pretty tough and hard lessons, and one of them is that I should be able to ask questions as a woman.' For some of her former 'sister wives,' still in thrall to Bateman even as he rots in prison, tragically even now that realization has yet to dawn. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. 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