Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
It's Lacey and I'm Lauren and welcome to another episode of the Llamas podcast.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: And today we are going to be finishing up talking about Sam Bateman. There's been some. We never finished that conversation from a while ago and there's been some updates on it and those type things. But I'll ask Lacy a question first. Has nothing to do with anything but pop culture. And I want to know, are you avoiding eating, you know, vegetables that aren't cooked right now? What are you doing because of this cyclospora outbreak? And just so you know, South Carolina, we don't really know if we're. It says we're not part of the major outbreak, but the upstate has more cases than anywhere else in the state, just so you know.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: So I'll just be honest. I don't eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies. I just don't a lot of. I do eat a lot of bell pepper and like onion, but I cook it in like a bowl. Like I'll put it with like I made a Mexican taco dish, you know, this week. So I had bell pepper and rice and black. So, you know, that's cooked down.
I'm not really big on fruits and the fruits I do eat are typically like cantaloupe. So like if it's on the outside out, you know, I typically buy it already cut and so usually they, you know, clean it before they cut into it and stuff.
So for me, it's just not really a big question because I just, I. When I eat vegetables, they're typically cooked down. Now I did eat a bag salad earlier this week.
I was fine. I didn't really think about it in the moment. I just bought it and then I ate it. But I'm okay right now, not several days ago. So no, I haven't really changed, but I haven't had to because like I said, that's just not now. Luke eats a lot of blueberries and strawberries, but he really hadn't craved them lately. So yeah, not really too big in my household. How about you?
[00:02:05] Speaker B: Well, so for us it's been a much bigger deal. I guess.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: We.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: So I never eat bags outlets. Like we got away from that years ago because I just now there's more like risk of that. So we always buy like head to lettuce and that type stuff. But for us, we do eat a lot of stuff that has impacted like even just eating like sandwiches. A lot of times we put lettuce and tomatoes and stuff like on our Sandwiches.
We do eat a lot of salads and we like the spinach and the dark leafy greens that are not good right now.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: Greens.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: We eat a lot of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. Now my kids love all types of fruit, so I mean like we can. They're still eating fruits, but we're doing like oranges, bananas, watermelon, like those type things that have the peeling.
So. But it has impacted us just in general because I mean we do eat cooked vegetables too, but we eat a lot of fresh stuff like that. So it's been, it's impacted because I don't want to have explosive diarrhea for a week. Like, you know, it would be nice to lose a few pounds, but I ain't doing it that way.
I don't want to deal with that. And I've heard like, I just saw some comments from people who have had it, who've been like, I'm scared to even leave the toilet because it's explosive and happens.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: So.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And it's not like a stomach bug that passes in like 24 hours. Like it supposedly lasts like weeks. A lot of people, especially kids and elderly, end up in the hospital because they get dehydrated.
And I don't want to be cleaning explosive diarrhea off the wall for my kids. Yeah, yeah, it has impacted us, but like cuz I'm paranoid. So that's why I asked you too because I know you don't worry about stuff like that as much as.
So. Right, yeah. Just been following CDC guidelines though.
So hopefully though they find this outbreak because my children are missing their fresh strawberries.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
Well, moving on to our topic today, I saw that Sam Bateman was in the news about a month ago. So I brought up to Lauren that we should probably finish our topic.
So if you remember to just kind of summarize where we left off our first episode, we really just talked about the FLDS and like their traditions where they were once Warren, Jess went to prison. You know, they couldn't have intimate relations, they couldn't marry. Kids were stopped. You know, they stopped having children because, you know, he said they couldn't do anything. And.
And that's when Sam Bateman kind of broke off and started his own sect similar to the flds, but he allowed marriages and women and stuff. So I think that's kind of where we left off talking about the, the documentary that Christine, she's the one in the documentary, she kind of, she kind of infiltrated that section in doing a documentary with Sam Bateman. So she's the one that really got close to these girls that he had married, some underage, some over 18 as well.
[00:05:36] Speaker B: So.
[00:05:37] Speaker A: So, yeah, so that's kind of where we left off. So if you've seen the documentary. Documentary, you know that there were. Was it two or three men that followed Sam Bateman into the.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: I think three. I think three.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: I can't remember, but I know there was, like, the head one, but I think there was, like, two others.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And so one of the guys actually let Sam Bateman, like, marry all his daughters.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: And the mom was quite angry.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Right. But she definitely.
Right. She didn't think she could do anything, and that's why it was so nice to have Christine. And I think I said this before, like, she didn't judge them. She just came in as a helping hand. What can I do to help you? And I think that really helped save a lot of these girls and put Sam Bateman. That is why he is behind bars, because of her approach in this situation, because she didn't judge eventually that mom knew what was going on. She knew that there were underage girls, underage broads. She knew what was happening.
And I believe her husband even played a role in it because he went to prison. I think he got like, 40 years or something at the end of the documentary.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah, he did. He got.
I can't remember how much, but he did get a significant sentence in prison.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: Yeah. At least two of the men I know got significant prison sentence because once she.
She kind of came forward, she gave Christine some of the information because she. I think she says that she's like. She knew it was wrong, and she's like, we're going to hell for this. This isn't right. But what's wild to me with her, though, is, you know, she saw that that was wrong and believed that it was wrong and led. It led to these arrests. Right. But by the end of the documentary, she's still not out of the flds. So my question is, does she not believe that Warren Jeffs did the same thing?
[00:07:38] Speaker B: That's kind of what I thought at the end, too. I was like, so I guess, yes, it's like she sees Sam Bateman, but can she not see that this is all the same? Like.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: That all of these people are false prophets? I mean, like, I'm not. Like, obviously, I'm a religious person, and I believe God uses people, but I don't think God's ever going to tell you to sleep with a underage girl type Thing.
And so, I don't know, I guess in her head he still hasn't done wrong because she did say the prophets in jail or something did. And she like talking about.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: I want to say that.
Yeah. And it, it is very confusing. It's like you clearly saw that this was a false prophet because of the damage he was doing to underage girls. But that's exactly why Warren Jeffs is in jail. Like, do you not believe, like, he learned this through being in the cult, like, thinking that this was okay to have child brides? Like, the only difference is Sam Bateman was like, you know, certain things he wouldn't record because he would say that's how Warren Jeffs got caught. You know, I'm not putting that on film because that's how Warren Jeff said got caught.
And so, yeah, so that was confusing. But, yeah, I mean, she did come forward. She led to the arrest of Sam Bateman. And then there's one clip in the documentary where you see, like, the police pull Sam Bateman over. I think this is when he, he, he knows that he is going to be arrested for something. And so he tries to flee with the girls. And somebody sees fingers coming out of a trailer, like, because they were trying to hold the door shut.
So the police come, pull them over, they find children in the back, underage girls, Sam Bateman with. I think all the women in the truck were of age, but that is what actually just came up last month. So Sam Bateman has already been convicted federally, and I think he got like 50 years or something. But the. What came up a month ago was that trial for that scene.
He was arrested for child abuse charges out of that state charges, I believe. And so he went to trial last month for that.
He chose to represent himself. And his defense was, I'm nice, I wouldn't do this.
I'm a nice guy.
And so he lost. He was convicted of those child abuse charges as well. But was interesting kind of to see, you know, the articles come out about that case and, and seeing that footage that led to those arrests in that documentary.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: So he. Okay, so I know, like, he represented himself in this case. This was a state case, correct? Not a federal case?
[00:10:22] Speaker A: I believe so, yeah.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: Can you represent yourself in federal court or do they make you have an attorney?
[00:10:29] Speaker A: I don't practice federal court, but I think anybody has the right to represent themselves, but they warn against it and in some cases, even state cases. So imagine the same federally, the judge will still appoint an attorney if they have questions.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: So, like, like with Ted Bundy, like, technically he represented himself, but there was an attorney sitting there right beside him to help him. I just didn't know. And like, I guess like in this case, because he did represent himself. Do you think that was a strategy? Because he thought possibly if I represent myself and screw up, I'm more likely to get it overturned if I say I needed an attorney. Or do you think it'll stick?
[00:11:09] Speaker A: Oh, I think yeah. He did it because he's a narcissist and really thought he'd get off. I think he thinks so highly of himself. I think he thinks he's very brilliant.
And like, like we've said in the first episode, I think he's absolutely a buffoon. And I can't understand why anybody like the way he talks. It's like, yeah, you don't even. You're not even persuasive in it.
[00:11:34] Speaker B: No, he does not have, like, charisma to like, attract. Like, that was kind of hard part with him is like, kind of when you hear like the other people that live out there talking about him, they're like, yeah, he was nothing special. Like, he's not good looking, he's not rich. Like, kind of. It's kind of crazy how these women fell for him. But then it's also like this whole cult thing is. You can see that people get drawn in and once one person goes, it's like a domino effect.
I did.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: So after watching the documentary, I just wanted to hear more from some of the people. So I think Gnome, I think it was, or one of the other girls, but I want to say it was her.
They've done a couple podcasts and there's one podcast, it's like Life After Cults or something. I'd have to send it to you, Lauren, but she talks to former members of different cults. And so I've listened to a few. Those are very interesting. But anyways, do you remember that white jacket he wore in the show?
[00:12:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: So that was like a big deal to him. So when he got it, he told everybody to make sure, like to say it cost thousands of dollars. Like it was just fancy leather jacket and stuff. And it was just a big deal to him. He wore all the time. She said it cost like 60 bucks, like on Amazon or something like that.
But he tried to portray things as so much more expensive to try to be flashy. But she said, really it was just like a 60 jacket at some random online shop. And it wasn't even real leather.
But kind of going back to why he represented Himself, he just thinks he's just the coolest thing. And I think he thought he could just get off on it.
[00:13:20] Speaker B: Do we know what's happened to all of his children at this point? Like, are they with their moms or are they in like dss? Is there. I mean, like, I don't know how many kids he had, but he had a bunch
[00:13:35] Speaker A: that wasn't really talked about too much in the documentary. Like how many children he had and how many. I can't remember how many wives, but yeah, we didn't really hear that. I do know. I think it was. Is her name Gnome in the what?
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Yeah, the main girl. Like the girl that's in the documentary a lot.
[00:13:53] Speaker A: Yeah. And she did get out.
She said some of the girls are still in it and convinced he's the prophet. Kind of like people with Warren Jeffs and so they still communicate with him in prison.
And then some of the girls have escaped, so. So I. I would imagine there are some still convince he's the prophet if they have children with him. You know, they're just still communicating by prison and following whatever he says from there. Like Warren Jeffs.
[00:14:21] Speaker B: So this is a weird and question, but since he thinks all these women are his wives, can he get conjugal visits with all of them or only the legal w.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: I would think they. I mean, I think the jails all together try to avoid conjugal visits, to be honest.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Well, I've never understood why you should be able to get that you're in jail.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: I don't know. I mean, I would think that it would just be the legal way because we don't acknowledge polygamy legally in America in any state. So I would think if he can request that, it would just be from the legal wife.
But not saying that couldn't visit because I think if he puts them on his visitation list.
[00:15:07] Speaker B: Right. They could still come. Can kids fit? Like, what's the rules on kids visiting in jails?
[00:15:13] Speaker A: It's up to different institutions. And I will say in Covid, they changed a lot of the visitation rules, you know, during that time, I imagine they're back to normal.
I can tell you as a child that did visit prison, you have to have the parent on the visitation list. So, like, I wouldn't be able to just go with anybody. Like, the reason I was on the list was because my mom was on the list and she decided to take me. So, you know, I. I think if a kid wants to go visit a parent or a parent in prison or someone in prison, the parent has to approve of it. That's not in prison, if that makes sense. Like. Like, my sister could not have seen her dad in prison either if my mom wasn't going. But, like, my sister couldn't go just, you know, to somebody on her dad's side of the family and say, hey, can you sneak me into the prison and put me on the list.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: Is that a recent change? Because. So Wes.
So my husband's father spent a large amount of his life in different prisons. Federal as well, not just state. He was convicted federally.
[00:16:18] Speaker A: I never been to the federal penitentiary,
[00:16:20] Speaker B: so I know that Wes went one time. He did not want to, but his grandmother took him and forced him to go.
So I don't know if, like. Yeah, how. I. I mean, and this was, like, back, like, in the early 90s. I mean, like, obviously a lot has changed.
My husband did not want to go. He went to a federal prison.
I don't know. I think it was outside in Georgia or something. I don't know. To see his father, who he didn't want to see, and legally, his dad was never his dad. So I'm guessing, like, laws have just changed.
[00:16:54] Speaker A: I don't think that's the case anymore. I mean, I could look into it, but I think the only reason. Because my stepdad wasn't my dad, I don't think I could have just gone with anybody. Like, my mom, I believe, had to put me. They had to put me on the list, and I come with my mom.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: But I think it's better. I think children need to be protected from that. And I just. I guess, like, you can see how they're caught can continue. If these women are taking these kids to see their dad in jail and he thinks he's. They think he's done nothing wrong and that how it could continue because of that.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I don't oppose kids going to jails. And, like, I follow this one thing where they did, like, a dance for daddy. Daddy daughter dances, and the dad's got to invite their daughters. And some of these men never even met their kid, you know, and it was really emotional and heartwarming. And I think when.
If you are a parent and you're in prison, it encourages you to do. To do better, and you look forward to getting out. And even though I'm mad at Jelly Roll, we can see the benefits of that. Right. Because when he had his daughter, that was kind of what he said shifted him wanting to change his life around. He's in prison now. He can't see his daughter. His daughter's been born, and he's missing out. And so when he got out, you know, he changed his life because he wanted to do better for his daughter.
So I can see the benefits of it in situations, but I also can see that the negatives, too. I think it has to be handled very carefully by whomever the guardian parents are that's not incarcerated. And I think kids should also have a say in a voice like it. Wes, if Wes did not want to go west, should not have gone. But if a child is, you know, old enough to understand and they want to go, I think that should be considered too.
I think I wanted to go see Danny when he was in prison. I don't remember, like, not wanting to go.
I don't know how my sister felt, but I. I didn't mind going. I missed him. I was close to him.
He made very bad choices when he was in addiction, but when he was in addiction, he was a good person. So I remember wanting to go, and I don't look back and, like, I'm not mad at my mom for making me go. I'm more mad at her for staying in the relationship as long as she did.
But, you know, in prison, he was sober, and he was the good part.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: Well, I think that kind of shows different, you know, things happen for different people, and everything is a case by case. I think probably having, like, guardian ad litems or therapists appointed for children could be helpful.
But that pretty much wraps up our little Sam Bateman chat. We're going to be going into some other things, like some other documentaries and stuff for the rest of the summer. But if you have any ideas or want us to talk about specific things, send us a DM and let us know. But otherwise, we'll see you next week. And hopefully none of you get the explosive diarrhea.
[00:20:01] Speaker A: See you next week. Bye. Bye.
