Original subtitles

[pensive music playing]

[birds chirping]

-[Tolga] Okay, it's rolling. Go ahead. -Well, that's cool.

[Naomi] Tolga and Christine had a lot of videos of us.

Sam trusted them,

but… I was a little suspicious.

One time, I actually told him,

I was like, "I think there's something going on."

-But he didn't believe me. -[speaking indistinctly]

I told them yesterday that I trust Tolga and Christine

with our stuff more than myself.

-[Christine] More than yourself? -[Tolga] Wow.

He blew me off and then got after me for not trusting him

to trust them.

So after that, I didn't say anything.

I was just being obedient.

When you do filming that doesn't have audio, it's called B-roll.

So B-roll is just video with audio in the background.

-That's what it's called? -Uh--

-[Tolga speaking indistinctly] -The FBI told us the raid was imminent.

Then we have the stories…

-Behind it. -[Christine] Right.

-It is powerful. -So we have our audio…

The FBI wanted us to help come up with a ruse to get Sam away from the girls.

So we played upon Sam's ego.

What do you think of this? In the studio, sit down with a mic on,

and we get your talking… your life story.

[Tolga] Explain your feelings, you know, your emotions.

[Christine] Yeah.

We planned an interview of him

that we said was gonna be very helpful for the world to know who he really was.

Maybe we do one on Tuesday in the morning with you. One on…

-[Tolga] We'll figure it out. -…Wednesday in the morning…

[Naomi] Tolga and Christine wanted to interview Sam.

They said it was for the documentary, but after a year,

then you're wondering, "Really?"

[Tolga] Can I get you to walk into the room? Christine, you stay there.

-Just sit like that at the beginning. -Okay.

[Sam] All right. I'm right here, you're saying?

[Naomi] I was observing, like, what's going on.

What's she up to?

[Christine] So, let's start at the beginning.

What are your dreams?

I want to be an instrument in God's hands to rule this earth in love and kindness.

-Do you like my answers or are they dumb? -I love them.

[Sam's wives laugh]

I just had this gut fear

feeling inside, like,

who do I trust?

Nobody?

[music fades]

[Tolga] Rolling.

[Christine] Okay, I'm turning my phone on "Do not disturb."

Okay.

[brooding music playing]

-[Sam] You want to recomb it somehow? -[Sam's wife] Yeah.

[speaking indistinctly, chuckling]

Don't sit where I can see you. I might get distracted.

[wives giggling]

[all laughing]

I got my pinchers ready.

[wives giggling]

Pinch you on your bum.

[all laugh]

We were filming Sam… [inhales deeply]

…do this interview.

[Christine] Are you a prophet?

[chuckles]

I would be a liar if I said I wasn't.

[Christine] And we purposely made sure

that the interview was not finished.

Let me see that other list.

I'll save that question till tomorrow.

[wives laughing]

[Christine] Are we good for tonight?

[Dawn] Christine and Tolga,

they had him going back the very next morning

so that we could make our entrance in their warehouse.

Okay, so, for tomorrow,

I have a challenge for you guys.

I would like them to each write a question for you.

I'm gonna come and pick 'em up tomorrow.

The plan was,

I was gonna be with the girls in the green house.

Tolga was going to be with Sam.

Okay, dinner!

[clapping] Yay!

Turn on that light, would you?

There were three structures to be searched.

Two houses and one warehouse.

The goal was to obtain evidence

of his sex-related crimes.

[Christine] Just, we're shooting him tonight,

and we kept the lights up and everything for tomorrow.

Okay.

Now, on the green house,

opening the door could be interpreted as,

"Oh, she must be the one that told on us."

But having the door jammed in, I don't want the babies to be terrified.

So, ultimately, I'll probably be the one to open the door.

[Dawn] I don't want to put you in a position

that you don't feel comfortable in.

If you think you're not gonna feel comfortable in that house at that time,

don't go.

Oh, I'm going.

[Tolga] Sam confirmed. Okay.

8:00 a.m. I said, "Christine's gonna go to the green house,

get questions from the girls. They'll be there probably an hour later,

and then you'll meet me at the place at 8:00 a.m."

[music fades]

I'm a little scared.

You're… You're gonna be in with them. You're just gonna say, "What's going on?"

Just… you know.

-[tense music playing] -[Christine exhales] Tomorrow's a big day.

Are you gonna sleep?

-[Tolga] No. -[Christine] Me either.

Let me ask you a question.

What should I wear when I take down a pedophile, huh?

What is the proper outfit?

Hmm?

[insects chirping]

[music intensifies]

[Dawn] There was a large number of law enforcement getting prepared

to serve the search warrant.

[Tolga] They're waiting on my word?

[Christine] We send a code, and it's all systems go.

We were very nervous because

there were 50 law enforcement counting on us.

-[Tolga] You gotta be careful. -[Christine] I know.

[suspenseful music playing]

[dog barking in distance]

[Christine] Hi.

[indistinct chatter]

[Sam's wife] Do you want some Cool Whip? Here, baby.

Christine showed up

really early in the morning.

She'd never come that early.

[unsettling music playing]

Sam had already left for this interview that they were recording.

I remember feeling like, "Hey, something's weird."

[Christine] When I went there that morning,

everything was so calm and normal.

[Sam's wife] But probably not right until dinner.

[Christine] I thought, "Their life is about to turn upside down."

[Tolga] I was at the warehouse with Sam and three of his wives.

[clock ticks]

[suspenseful music playing]

I look outside.

I don't see any police, nothing.

I go back,

sit down.

I'm rolling here. Get ready.

Boom. FBI is there.

[banging on door]

[dramatic music playing]

The camera was rolling,

and they said, "Turn it off."

[Dawn] I think Sam was very surprised

that it was the FBI and that he was facing federal charges.

He didn't say much.

[Tolga] They put him into the car.

Sam was taken away.

It was checkmate.

And then the FBI goes to the green house.

[phone ringing]

[Sam's wife] A call came in from one of Sam's wives,

who wasn't in the green house.

[Sam's wife 1] They said, "We have a search warrant to search this warehouse

and any person in it and everything in it."

And I'm like, what in the heck?

[Christine] Uh-oh.

There's an officer at Joan's. They're blocking the driveway.

Joan's blocking the driveway?

[Christine] Okay. I'll get--

[baby babbling]

[panicked chatter]

This could be dangerous.

[Sam's wife 2] If they try, they die, and we die,

and they'll be accused of murder.

Where's my pepper spray? I need an AR-15.

-[indistinct chatter] -[babies crying]

[Naomi] I was in the shower.

[shower running]

I heard the speakers going off outside, like, telling everybody to come outside.

And that the home was surrounded.

[officer over megaphone] We have a search warrant for this residence.

Come out the front door with your hands up,

and follow the officers' commands.

Christine was like, "You have to go out. You gotta go out."

[Christine] I did not want anyone to engage in violence.

I'm gonna check. I'm gonna check, you guys.

So I went out,

and I told them I will come out with them one at a time.

[melancholy music playing]

I'll never forget how I felt as I was walking the younger girls out.

Feeling like,

they don't know this,

but I'm walking them to their freedom.

And they're also about to really, really hate me.

I was one of the first ones that went out.

There was, like, a line of FBI agents.

And that was when it hit, like,

"Wow, this is real." Like, we're really being raided.

They had patted us down and took our phones and everything.

And started taking one person at a time and interviewing them.

One of our goals when serving the search warrants

was to interview all of the wives,

all of the minor children,

and to see what… if we could get any information from any of them.

In the interview, I lied.

I lied a lot in it.

Of the interviews that I conducted,

I would say

100% of 'em didn't tell the truth.

[tense music playing]

They didn't admit that they were married to Sam.

They didn't admit that the girls were married to Sam.

That's what Sam taught 'em to do.

[Julia] We stood out there in the rain for a little while.

I knew the girls were clearly distressed as to what was going on.

And then,

DCS showed up to take the underage wives into state custody.

[DCS agent] I just want to make sure we can assess safety.

[Dawn] DCS had requested court orders to take the girls without letting us know.

And so, it was a surprise to me

when they showed up at the house to take the nine girls.

[DCS worker 1] The teenage girls have to come with Department of Child Safety.

We've been given court authorization.

Where's Christine?

[DCS worker 1] If anybody interferes with it, to include following us, etc.,

they can be arrested.

We have the government, then you have God. We are accountable to God, that's all.

-You don't want… -He's the one who gave us these children.

[DCS worker 1] We've had issues with,

once a child is in placement,

a parent will go pick that kid up.

That's actually considered kidnapping now,

and it's a felony.

[sobbing]

[Sam's wife 1] We need each other.

[sobbing continues]

And we're gonna pass the test.

We are.

[blubbering]

Not even a day. Not even a day.

They said that if we didn't let you, they would arrest us.

[Sam's wife 2] We can't stop 'em.

[Sam's wife 3] They said you can bring your dresses if you want.

[Sam's wife 4] You didn't take any clothes?

No, I did not.

-[indistinct chatter] -[sobbing]

[DCS worker 2] This way.

[indistinct chatter]

[Sam's wife 5] They're not separating us from our mothers

or anybody else.

[Sam's wife 3] God damn you!

[sobbing]

[Sam's wife 6] I don't want any men in any vehicle.

Are they in all the vehicles?

[DCS worker 1] No, we have…

[Sam's wife 6] They're not gonna want to ride with a man.

-Yeah, I do not want to ride with a man. -I don't trust you.

[Sam's wives] ♪ And He will come again ♪

♪ And one by one, we'll rise ♪

♪ To praise His holy name ♪

♪ Risen ♪

♪ To bring us home again… ♪

Okay, girls, we gotta go, okay?

It's gonna be okay. The faster we do it, the faster it's over.

♪ And He'll bring us home again ♪

[Sam's wife 7] Mother, can I give you a hug?

[Tolga] It's gonna be okay.

[Sam's wife 8] We're gonna come get you. Heavenly Father's on our side.

[indistinct chatter]

[melancholy music playing]

-Bye-bye. -[Julia] I got 'em.

[Christine] Sam's nine underage wives

were taken to Phoenix and put into a group home.

And some of Sam's adult wives came over to my house.

[music fades]

[sobbing]

[Shiny] They took Samuel.

[sobbing]

I took a backpack with a bunch of personal information

and stuff that's his, and I threw it out the window.

-Right before they came in. -Where? Oh, good, good.

Yeah. Will they get it?

-No, they won't get it. You'll be okay. -Okay.

What'd you throw out?

I threw it out the bathroom window

when they… when they had surrounded the front door.

It's okay. Just calm down. Sit down and relax. Don't worry.

They had my social security number already.

Where did they get all that information? 'Cause they exactly knew.

They came in like, "Yeah, you're… you're Naomi. You're Shiny."

[baby babbling]

[Naomi] I was starting to see, like, there's more to the picture.

[suspicious music playing]

There's somebody within the group that's been giving them

a lot of this stuff.

[Shiny] I don't trust.

I think this has been brewing for a long time.

Because they just know way too much information.

[woman] We know the FBI are doing their job,

but they come because somebody else called 'em.

[phone ringing]

Your girls are here.

I think I'm gonna go into the car and crank it on the Bluetooth.

One second.

Just hooking up to the Bluetooth speaker 'cause it's so low to hear.

-Here we go. Can you hear? -[Sam on phone] Yes.

-[Naomi] Samuel? -[Sam speaks indistinctly]

-They took all of our phones. -[Sam's wife] Are you serious?

Like, none of us have phones.

[Sam] I have no idea what's going on.

Just be cheerful. We're not doing anything wrong anyway,

so when they find out it's just a bunch of lies, then

I'm sure they'll just let me go, so.

-Okay? -[Naomi, Shiny] Okay.

Do they have you in a holding cell?

[Sam] Yeah.

[Naomi sighs]

We need you.

-[Sam] Be fervent, okay? -Okay.

[Sam] We're not doing anything wrong,

so it must have been just a simple misunderstanding,

so I should be out tomorrow, hopefully.

-[Naomi] Okay. -[Shiny] Okay.

They said this investigation has been going on before the Flagstaff thing.

[Christine] After the raid,

I wanted to help them break free of Sam's hold on them.

I wanted to hear what was going on with you, and I… I, um…

I don't care if they have me in custody as long as Father's out.

But I do know that they've got some evidence

that is very, very close. So…

[Christine] What do you mean by "very close?" To what?

Somebody that knows everything that we do and say.

So…

I'm not-- Don't know if it's traitors, or what, among us.

[Christine] Yeah.

I wanted them to wake up before they found out that I was a mole.

[Shiny] You help everybody.

Not only help us, but you'll go help anybody who asks for help.

-[chuckles] -You are so kind. You are such an angel.

I'm worried about you, and I just want you to be okay,

and I want you to just be together and safe and happy.

[music fades]

[Dawn] After the arrest and search warrants,

we had

a truckload of evidence.

[pensive music playing]

We had seized cell phones.

We had seized computers. We had seized journals.

Calendars to get dates of things that happened, of travel that occurred.

But even with the evidence we got from the search warrant,

we still did not have a good child sexual abuse charge.

The girls were in such a tight-knit group

and still believed that Sam was the prophet.

Without an underage victim disclosure,

there was not a likely chance of prosecution for a sex crime.

[brooding music playing]

[Naomi] After his arrest…

Can you say, "Hi?" Hi!

[Naomi] …we went back to the blue house.

He waves like the Queen of England. [chuckles]

[Naomi] We weren't supposed to be in communication with the underage girls.

We're not worried about these girls because they are with each other.

They were all together in the group home,

but they got access to a phone.

[all] Good night, we love you.

[crickets chirping]

As soon as my two girls had been taken into custody,

then I immediately began to plan getting out.

[mellow music playing]

[Christine] You moving in?

-Is this your last load? -I think so.

[Christine] Awesome.

[Julia] I knew I needed to show that I have a safe place

and that I can physically and…

mentally take care of them

so I could get back custody.

-Do you do it on this side or this side? -It's this way.

I wanted her to get her girls back and reunite her family.

But also, I wanted her to get out of that environment full of Sam believers

because what on earth would happen to her

if they found out she did not believe, and she went to the FBI too?

[dramatic sting]

[music fades]

[Naomi] One day, the lady at the group home

that was taking care of the girls

had a paper from the DCS.

She had written this note

and ripped it up and put it in the garbage.

One of the younger girls had gotten it out

and taped it back together.

She took a picture of that and sent it to me.

And it said

something about the girls trust

the FBI informant, Christine Marie.

[tense music playing]

[Christine] Tolga!

-What? -[Christine] DCS just outed us.

[Tolga] What?

[Christine] They know. They know.

What do you mean? Saying what?

[Christine] That we turned them in. What do you mean, saying what?

[Dawn] The court documents that DCS provided

made it very clear that it was Christine and Tolga and Julia

that had provided information.

[Christine on phone] They are on to us now.

Yep.

[Dawn] That was not anticipated.

They had been working to help all the women,

and it just went down…

down the toilet.

[music fades]

I… I felt like they'd betrayed me.

And I sent some really mean texts to Christine and Tolga.

[message tone chimes]

[unsettling music playing]

[Christine on phone] One of the girls just told Tolga to fuck off.

And then she followed it up with

something like,

"Have a nice life, traitor."

-It was Nomz? -[Christine] Yep.

Everybody was really angry.

[Sam's wife on phone] Any pictures, anything you have of us,

you need to give back to us.

Because you guys haven't been honest.

You guys give it back to us and delete it off your devices.

[Tolga] We're on your side. We're not on the other side.

[Sam's wife] You're a liar.

-I know this is gonna be hard for you-- -[Sam's wife] Then don't say it.

No, it's that I care.

-I know it's going to be hard for you-- -[Sam's wife] I know that you don't care.

-I do care. -[Sam's wife] You have…

I do care because--

[Sam's wife] Through your actions, you've split apart a family.

Someday you're gonna understand

that… that I really do love you guys and that part is really true.

I mean, your children should not be having sexual experiences.

-You don't-- -[Sam's wife] Christine.

Jesus's family didn't go to Judas for comfort,

and we're not coming to you for comfort.

I want you to get your children back.

[Sam's wife] I'll get 'em back. I'll have every last one of them.

And God will fight our battles.

He will deliver us.

We will be free.

And we will be with Samuel, together forever.

[somber music playing]

[clucking]

[voice breaking] I remember them saying,

"You're the only one that hasn't betrayed us."

You know?

I just… [inhales deeply]

But I'm not betraying them. I'm helping them.

Right?

[somber music continues]

[phone dinging]

[music fades]

[Julia] The text messages started coming in from the people I loved,

even from my underage daughters.

I would have liked to have had

time with my daughters before they found out.

[pensive music playing]

I was very concerned what my husband, Moroni, would do.

He had been so very loyal to Sam.

Moroni called.

He said, "Are you ready to talk?"

I just wonder if this is the day

I say something, carefully,

'cause he wants me to go on a ride tonight.

[pensive music continues]

[dogs barking in distance]

[vehicle passing by]

[Julia] That night,

Moroni and I, we talked.

And I talked to him like I'd never talked to him before in my life.

I says, "We're adults,

we're parents,

and we're following a false prophet,

and he's leading us right to hell,

and I'm not gonna go there anymore."

I says, "But you have to choose."

He said, "Either we're damn right or we're damn wrong."

I said, "Moroni,

we're damn wrong,

and if you want to sit where that man's gonna sit,

in prison for life,

you can sit with him."

"You can choose."

"But I choose to get out of this hell,

and I choose to get my children out of it."

And he left that night,

and he said he threw up all night long.

Out of anguish.

And I said, "You will go through it

as you realize

what we've done as parents to our children."

I'd never been so bold like that.

[music fades]

I don't even know how to describe it. It's…

It's like reviewing again and again

the greatest mistake you made in your life.

I'm responsible.

It's like,

what was… what is there in me that…

allowed that to escalate like that?

Unchecked, so to speak.

Remarkable.

[unsettling music playing]

[Dawn] About six weeks after Sam was arrested,

Moroni contacted the FBI and agreed to be interviewed.

During his interview,

we learned how much he was involved with Sam Bateman.

[Moroni] Sam has raped my little girls, my adult daughters,

my wives, and me.

[Dawn] He was able to verify

that his daughters were involved in many of the group sex acts,

where Moroni was having sex with somebody,

and Sam was having sex with somebody,

and Moroni's daughters were there.

[Moroni] I did it. I'm the responsible person for this.

I'm the one that declared it was from God.

Moroni was, in a way, a victim of Sam's manipulation.

But I find it very hard to accept or justify

that a father would allow their minor children

to go to somebody who

is… having sex with young girls.

He eventually accepted a plea agreement.

He will be sentenced

because he certainly was responsible for

crimes against his daughters.

I think that Moroni was hoping to regain his honor for his family,

but his daughters still believed Sam was the prophet.

[line ringing]

-[automated voice] You have a call from… -[Sam] Samuel Bateman.

-[Naomi] Father! -[Sam] Hi.

[Naomi] I'm so grateful for you.

[Sam] Thank you.

Samuel called every day,

all day,

on the phone.

[Dawn] When you're in jail, as long as you have money on your books,

you can make video calls.

And because he was the prophet, if he wanted money on his books,

Torrance was putting money on his books.

[Sam] Where is my darling little girls?

[Naomi] The underage girls were connected, listening to his orders.

[Sam] Action is another form of belief.

Sam wanted us to get the girls out of custody from the start.

He told us that they belonged to him, they were his.

[Sam] Step up.

-Okay. -[Sam's wife] Okay.

[Naomi] I asked him, "If we get caught,

what are they gonna do to us?"

And he said,

"They've already done whatever they could to you 'cause they took me."

Speaking of himself.

I was like, "Yeah,

that is the worst thing."

And then Sam told us to go pick 'em up and run.

[suspenseful music playing]

We took two vehicles.

By the time we got there,

it was around eleven o'clock at night.

We picked them up near, like, the freeway bridge.

Where should we go?

He didn't tell us where to take 'em.

So we split up.

And the underage girls went with my sister-wife.

[music fades]

[reporter 1] A group of girls belonging to an offshoot

of the fundamentalist LDS church vanished

from Child Protective Service custody in Arizona.

[reporter 2] Bateman has had a number of calls with his wives,

leading them to believe that they are on the run.

[reporter 3] The eight girls who ran away range in age from 11 years old to 16.

[tense music playing]

[Christine on phone] The girls are missing.

There was some plan, and they all got picked up this morning.

-And all of their stuff is gone. -[Julia] Oh my God.

[Christine] They might be trying to head out of the country.

How people even knew where to find them…

It was like an orchestrated heist.

[Julia] My two daughters,

the youngest girls,

were missing out of custody.

I was just in an absolute mental state.

[Christine] FBI is all over this.

-[Julia] Yeah. -Now all of these mothers are suspects.

They already put out an alert for the border

because they had some inclination they might be trying to leave the country.

Question is, who was driving that car, and where are those girls now?

[suspenseful music playing]

[Dawn] When the kidnapping occurred,

I was concerned because if I lost my victims,

I would never get that definitive statement

of what Sam was doing to them.

We had no information as to where they were going.

None of the wives were accounted for.

So we needed to find them.

[Tolga] The green house has been empty,

but Moroni saw a van parked there.

[Christine] Go straight.

-[Tolga] There's still that same light on. -The lights are on.

If they knew the girls came out,

they're not that stupid to bring them here.

-[Christine] They do stupid things. -They do stupid things. You're right.

[Tolga] So we called the police.

[Christine] The question is, who's in there?

[Naomi] I had come back to the green house

to pick up food and stuff.

And a policeman showed up.

All I remembered is opening the door

and they asked me my name and I told them.

[Tolga] I see all the cars there now.

[Christine] We seriously don't need to be in the way.

[Tolga] No, we're not in the way, baby. They don't have enough men.

There's only eight people

working the entire department of Colorado City.

He was asking where all the underage girls were.

And at that point, I had no idea.

But the policeman said, "You're under arrest."

The next thing I remember, I was…

running.

[frenetic music playing]

-[Christine] There she is. -[Tolga] That's Nomz.

She's jumping the wall. Don't run.

[Christine] Back there, that way.

Yeah. Go this way. Go this way, Tolga. The way we came.

-[Tolga] Over there. -She was over there, by the dumpster.

[Tolga] Get out.

[Christine] Oh my gosh.

Come grab her.

[Tolga] She ran so fast,

and eight police officers couldn't catch her.

[Naomi] I made it all the way to the mountains…

when I started thinking,

am I really running?

And I turned around and went back

to turn myself in and didn't have the courage.

So I climbed up… I climbed under

a box trailer in the neighbor's yard

and climbed up in the axle.

[music fades]

[Christine] Nomz is a fugitive of justice.

There's a nationwide arrest warrant,

and if you take her in, you're harboring a fugitive,

and immediately call 911.

[Netty] Okay.

[Christine] She's in big, big trouble.

[Netty] He's been running her brain for so long, she doesn't know how to use it.

[Christine] That's true.

She has passion.

She has commitment.

It's all… It's in all the wrong places.

[somber music playing]

I'm very worried about her.

I wonder where she went.

[Naomi] I was there all night.

It was freezing.

I froze my leg really bad.

[birds chirping]

[Naomi] The next morning, then,

I climbed out and

turned myself in.

[Dawn] When Naomi was arrested,

I picked her up, and I interviewed her

on the way to the federal facility.

She wasn't making her own decisions.

She was doing what she had been told, um,

and she was very scared.

But she didn't know where the minor girls were hiding.

[pensive music playing]

However, because Sam was in prison

talking to his wives,

we had teams going through those phone calls.

[Sam] Step up. It helps us.

-[Naomi] Okay. -[Sam's wife] Okay.

[Dawn] We identified adult wives

who had picked up the girls from their group homes

and taken them out of state.

He said which vehicles to use,

whether to split up, to go different directions.

I was able to track down different Airbnbs

that had been reserved or rented on specific accounts

and found an address of an Airbnb that had been rented

by Torrance Bistline up in Spokane, Washington.

[indistinct chatter]

[Dawn] I was able to make contact with a local sheriff's department

and ask them to go check on the house.

Nobody answered the door to the law enforcement knocks,

but he saw a van leave the house

and pulled them over for a traffic violation.

[officer] Names?

I know… I know they're all in there, in the car.

-FBI's told me they're missing. -Mm-hmm.

[Dawn] They identified the eight children that we were looking for.

[Sam's underage wife] We've had enough of fucking bastards.

We're sick of you fucking bastards.

[Sam's adult wife] I hope you realize how wicked you guys are.

[Dawn] We were able to get all the girls back into DCS custody.

They all were with Moretta Johnson.

So Moretta was arrested for kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

-[Tolga] Wait, what happened? -[Julia] Moretta.

-In the car? -[Tolga] Were the girls arrested?

Moretta had the girls. She was the adult with the children.

[Christine] Oh my gosh.

[sobbing]

Moretta is totally innocent of it.

[somber music playing]

[Christine] I know.

[Julia] When I went for help,

I envisioned myself behind those bars

speaking to my children,

saying, "You go on. You're safe."

Would to God I could trade our places.

She don't belong there.

She depended on us as parents

to guide her.

[music ends]

[reporter] Bateman's wife, Moretta Johnson,

the teen found with the girls in Washington,

was arrested and will be transferred back here to Arizona.

Two other women were also arrested for their involvement.

I had no idea I was gonna be taken to prison.

[melancholy music playing]

[pencil scribbling]

At first,

I was really lost.

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.

[exhales sharply]

Even though most of my life,

Warren Jeffs was in prison,

in our eyes, he was so holy and righteous.

Sam would read Warren's personal diaries to us almost every night.

Sam was getting a lot of his ideas out of Warren's diaries.

[sinister music playing]

Being isolated in prison,

I actually started thinking a little bit more about it.

[brooding music playing]

I had been in jail for four or five months,

and one day

we were going to the courts for a status hearing

about the situation with Sam.

And they accidentally put me in a cell next to him.

And he talked to me for four hours.

He got all emotional

and was telling me, "Oh, I haven't got to talk to anybody for a whole year."

He hadn't even been in there for an entire year.

And that was the first time I actually recognized,

"He's lying to me."

After that, my whole mind shifted.

Once I questioned one little thing,

then a whole flood, like a tsunami of questions came in.

What am I doing with my life?

Why do I believe the way I believe?

Is there even a God?

And I realized I had been lied to my entire life.

I was born in lies.

And I couldn't even blame my parents for it.

They were born in lies.

When I look back,

I see that girl in third person.

[inaudible]

[Naomi] I thought I was in love with him.

But now looking back, I understand it was complete fear.

[inaudible]

The things that were going on inside were completely

different than what was showed.

You have to let him go.

It's not me.

It was… an entirely different person.

[exhales deeply] It's very disturbing.

Beyond what anybody could fathom.

[insects, birds chirping]

[music fades]

[Christine] It's hard

not knowing if the girls are doing okay.

[line ringing]

[Christine] Are you able to communicate with Nomz?

Yeah, she's getting pretty homesick.

She wants to come home pretty bad.

[Christine] Well, send her love from us.

She might not appreciate it, but maybe by now she will.

[pensive music playing]

[Dawn] After the kidnapping,

all of the minor girls were separated.

They were no longer in group homes. They all went to foster homes.

They were no longer communicating with Sam or the other older wives.

And that's when things in this case started to open up.

-[unsettling music playing] -[line ringing]

[Julia] I was able to talk to my daughters in foster care.

[Julia's daughter on phone] Hi!

[Julia] When they were separated,

they started to have a better understanding

about certain things that happened.

And I had to say to my girls,

"Could you have said no, or, 'I don't want to do this,'

without being punished in some way?"

And they all had to say, "Uh, no."

We talked, like, over and over about… [exhales] …coming forth with the truth.

The truth is really the best.

[Dawn] It was one of Julia's underage girls

who came forward first.

[pensive music playing]

She finally admitted that having sex with Sam did occur.

And she then talked to some of the other girls that had been with Sam.

And a few more of them started to come forward.

They provided the full scope of what was happening on a daily basis.

At a certain point, Sam Bateman was canceling all the religious classes

and at-home schooling

so that he could have sex with all of the girls, all of the time.

In addition to Sam,

we got verification from minor victims

against Sam's adult followers that he had wrapped up into this scheme.

So we arrested Torrance and Ladell

and five adult wives of Sam.

And we finally got information that we needed

for child sexual abuse charges against Sam Bateman.

It… It was big.

[music intensifies]

[reporter 1] Tonight, a polygamist leader based in Colorado City, Arizona

is facing serious charges of sexual conduct involving children.

[reporter 2] Newly unsealed court documents today

show a grand jury indicted him on additional charges.

The allegations are beyond disturbing.

[music turns disturbing]

The US Attorney's Office said it was the largest prosecution of the kind

in the state that they could recall.

In my entire career,

I have never worked as hard as I had to work for this case.

It being my last case, it…

it validated my entire career.

[pensive music playing]

[reporter 1] Samuel Bateman,

the polygamist self-proclaimed prophet,

has now been sentenced to 50 years in prison,

the maximum sentence for that plea deal.

[reporter 2] FBI investigators state much of their information came from a couple

who had been filming a documentary with Bateman,

earning his trust to interview his wives and document their testimonies.

[Christine] My false prophet

was never held accountable for what he did to me.

[Christine] Oh.

[laughs]

So, with these young ladies,

I was driven to make sure

that it would be different for them.

[music fades]

[objects shuffling]

[Naomi] I was incarcerated for 21 months.

When I first got out of prison,

I was free

for the first time in my life.

[uplifting music playing]

Thanks.

Sure.

[Naomi] It's taken time,

but I feel like I was, like, reborn.

Like, every other week, I have a new obsession,

a new thing I'm learning… [chuckling]

…that I had never seen or, like, never even experienced before.

There's just so much that you can do. [chuckles]

I don't plan on staying in the Crick forever.

[uplifting music continues]

[birds chirping]

[Naomi] I'm in college, studying psychology.

I want to understand what happened to me.

[Christine] Did you ever ask yourself, how did we do these things that

are not even in our value system?

[Naomi] I'm learning that I'm not alone.

It takes bravery to stand out and walk on your own.

[Naomi] With Christine,

I didn't realize how similar our lives were.

[chuckling]

-Is this an emotional support cat? -[laughs]

[Christine] Well, hello!

[Naomi] I understood, finally, why she did what she did.

[Christine] Where are you?

[Julia on phone] Pick up Moretta.

This is amazing. How do you feel?

[Julia sighing] Uh…

[chuckling] A little anxiety with it, but excitement.

-Yes! -[Tolga chuckles]

Moretta had spent a year in prison.

[laughing]

Did you tell him that?

[Julia] Her words are "prison set me free."

I don't want to let go of her.

It helped her to get into a thought process of her own.

For me,

I've learned some pretty tough and hard lessons,

and one of them is, I… I should be able to ask questions

as a… as a woman.

[poignant music playing]

Moroni and I,

we don't live together as married at this time.

How do I teach my daughters to walk away from it if I can't?

To the fullest.

[music continues]

[music fades]

[pensive music playing]

[birds chirping]

[wind whooshing]

-Get out of the camera. -[Tolga] Just stand there.

[Christine] Come here.

[pensive music continues]

[Tolga] Got it.

[music fades]

[enigmatic music playing]

[music fades]