Self-proclaimed ‘prophet’ busted with underage ‘wives’ after couple he trusted helped bust abuse ring

The self-proclaimed prophet, who had more than 20 “spiritual wives,” including underage girls, was exposed after a couple gained his faith and secretly documented his world for researchers.

Christine Marie and her husband Tolga Katas’ traumatic post-surgery story is now being told in the Netflix docuseries “Trust Me: The False Prophet.”

It later features behind-the-scenes footage of the pair working with law enforcement as informants. Their efforts helped expose Samuel Bateman’s child abuse ring and contributed to the 2022 raid that led to his arrest along with many of his followers.

Officials say Bateman tried to start an offshoot of the FLDS based in the neighboring communities of Colorado City, Arizona and Hilldale, Utah, the Associated Press reported. After Mormons officially renounced polygamy in 1890, the fundamentalist group split from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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Bateman declared himself the successor of self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs, who arranged marriages for followers, including underage girls, and had more than 80 “spiritual wives”. Jeffs was convicted in Texas in 2011 of sexually abusing minor followers and sentenced to life in prison.

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Behind bars, Jeffs ordered his followers to no longer marry or have children and subsequently became increasingly silent, paving the way for Bateman to claim him as his successor.

“There were so many things that surprised me about Christine and Tolga’s experience,” Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Rachel Dretzin told Fox News Digital.

“First of all, the fact that they were able to gain access to the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), which is one of the most closed communities in the world, is amazing and very unusual. The fact that they were able to gain the trust of Sam Bateman, who allowed them so deeply into the world – was very private.

Christine Marie, a cult expert, was raised in the Mormon faith. The 65-year-old survived an abusive marriage to a man he considered a prophet, People magazine reported. He and Katas moved to Short Creek in 2016.

The Nevada couple, who met Bateman in 2017, captured him and members of his group, including his so-called “wives,” from 2019 until his 2022 arrest. Eleven of Bateman’s adult followers have also been convicted of conspiracy to commit child sexual abuse.

Bateman was interested, eager for recognition. He opened his doors to the couple, giving them access to his home, gatherings and interactions with his followers.

“Sam is a megalomaniac who really enjoys the attention,” explained Drezin. “He wanted it and couldn’t resist the idea that there were these outsiders with cameras who were very interested in what he was doing. I also think that Christine has an incredible, uncanny ability to build trust with people, to make them feel that she appreciates what they’re doing.

“She was a very good actress,” Dretzin said. “And I think a lot of Sam’s wives also wanted a female presence that was an outsider because, whether they knew it or not, they were in a terrible position.”

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“People are born into the FLDS,” Dretzin explained. “They don’t join it. So, they have no other experience of life. And they are trained from birth to believe that the prophet speaks directly to God and to follow whatever the prophet tells them to do.”

Bateman attended Jeffs’ 2007 trial as a pro se. Dretzin said the connection gave him legitimacy among followers.

“I think so too [Bateman] Vulnerable people were preyed upon, women who were raised from birth to believe that the only value in their lives was to bear children and who were forbidden to bear children,” said Dretzin.

“When Sam said Warren was giving them permission through him, they were hungry and weak. They believed him.”

Federal investigators said Bateman forced underage girls into sexual acts with him and others and arranged for some victims to be molested by other adult followers. They noted that Bateman and others transported victims between states to facilitate sexual abuse, which continued until his arrest.

An affidavit filed in federal court alleges that Bateman conducted video calls in which the participants were nude and engaged in sexual activity. According to court files, Bateman also described a so-called “binding of brothers” ritual involving sexual acts with followers’ wives.

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Julia Johnson, wife of Bateman’s early follower Moroni Johnson, began meeting secretly with Christine Marie in July 2022, sharing first-hand accounts of Bateman’s crimes.

Christine Marie learned that Moroni had asked his wife to give several of their daughters, including their two minors, to Bateman as wives. Johnson told her husband, “We’re following a false prophet, and he’s leading us to hell, and I’m not going there anymore.”

“[Julia] was questioning from the beginning,” Dretzin said. “But, again, these women are taught from birth that they must obey their husbands and their prophets. And, therefore, Julia was in a very difficult position. But as you see in the footage, Julia finds her voice, which is an incredibly profound experience as a viewer.”

Christine Marie and Katas quietly gathered evidence as Bateman became more comfortable around them and let his guard down. He regularly invited them to dinner at his home, where 22 women shared a bedroom, People reported.

“Sam really thought he could get away with anything he wanted, and the sky was the limit,” Dretzin said. “And the grandeur of his imagination is somewhat breathtaking. He honestly believed that the Queen of England would see the footage of him and his wives and want to join her tribe.

“How do I explain it? I think he was a narcissist who was in a closed system where everyone around him was doting on him and, whether they wanted to or not, made him feel like he was king. And that goes to your head. And he lost all boundaries.

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“From what I understand, Sam, behind closed doors, is tougher with his wife than you see when the cameras are on,” she said. “Sam knew enough to use that and use it to control his women.”

Warren Levy, son of Moroni and Julia Johnson, had secret meetings with Christine Marie and Katas, as shown in the documentary. He says, “Starting in 2019, Sam married seven of my sisters, ranging in age from 20 to 9. … Every single one of them called him the devil.'”

Prosecutors said the victims were transported to locations including cramped conditions across state lines to facilitate abuse. According to an FBI affidavit, Bateman drove two Bentleys, pushing failed business ventures in real estate and coaching services.

Bateman’s grip on power began to unravel after Christine Marie and Katas provided key evidence that contributed to a massive federal investigation.

In 2024, Bateman was sentenced to 50 years in prison for planning to subject girls as young as 9 to criminal sex acts with him and other adults and kidnap them from protective custody, the Associated Press reported.

According to the outlet, he pleaded guilty to a year-long scheme to transport girls across state lines for his sex crimes and later kidnap some of them from protective custody.

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The documentary also revealed that Moroney pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic a minor for sexual purposes and was later sentenced to 25 years in prison. Moroney and Johnson are no longer together.

Some of Bateman’s wives are no longer related to him, while others remain in touch.

“Being behind bars, somehow turns them into martyrs,” she said. “There is a whole religious belief system around the prophet that is punishable by law … and that can strengthen their power.”

“[But] Warren, in recent years, has been very erratic in his contact with his followers,” Dretzin said. “I know he is in contact with his family, which is a large number of people because he had 78 wives and hundreds of children. But sometimes he disappears for long periods of time. … But many people still believe that what Warren Jeffs says comes directly from God and should be followed to the letter.”

Leaving the FLDS isn’t just hard, it means going against everything you know.

“I can’t think of another situation like a cult that you’re in where you really believe that God knows everything you’re doing, and the prophet knows everything you’re doing,” she said.

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“Even if you have negative thoughts, they will know. And to leave that culture, to stand against that culture, to go to the media, which is seen as the worst thing you can do, it takes so much strength, so much courage, so much freedom of thought.”

Original article source: Self-proclaimed ‘prophet’ busted with underage ‘wives’ after couple he trusted helped bust abuse ring