Kriti Mehrotra
Directed by Rachel Dretzin, Netflix’s ‘Trust Me: The False Prophet’ is a documentary series that carefully chronicles how a self-proclaimed leader of the FLDS Church was brought down. Samuel “Sam” Bateman actually managed to build a legacy within the fundamentalist sect despite initially being a rather low-level, ordinary member, only to then commit heinous crimes. Unfortunately, he was enabled, financially backed, and supported at almost every step by his followers, particularly Torrance Bistline, LaDell Bistline Jr., and Moroni Johnson.
Torrance Bistline is Serving His 35 Year Term in a Federal Facility
A generational member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Utah, Torrance Bistline has never been a stranger to the controversies around his religion. However, despite what others might have perceived at any point, the ambitious man of God still managed to establish himself as an extremely successful entrepreneur in the outside world. He reportedly began his career as a Farmer and Metal Fabricator at Atlanta Farms in 2004, where he served for 8 years before becoming a Welder and Fitter at Fisher Industries.
Torrance then worked as a Designer and Fabricator at Oak Valley Inc. for about a year before joining Petty Construction as a Fusing Technician from late 2013 to July 2014. He essentially took on jobs across the nation to gain as much experience as he could, including 4 months as an Operator at Berry Brothers Construction and 3 years as a Lead Operator at Spider Plow Inc. He later served as a Crew Foreman at Water Transfer Solutions, owned Toro Industries, founded Toro Design & Manufacturing, and worked as a Lead Designer at VelociWrapper. He operated his businesses and was a proud designer, right up until he was arrested in May 2023 in connection with his participation in Samuel “Sam” Bateman’s crimes.
Torrance allegedly financed a lot of the sect leader’s life as well as engaged with minors in at least some sexual capacity, but he initially pleaded not guilty to all accusations. So, following a trial, on October 2, 2024, he was convicted of two counts of destruction of records, one count of using interstate commerce to coerce a minor into sexual activity, one count of conspiracy to commit destruction of records, one count of tampering with official proceedings, and one count of conspiracy to commit tampering. He was consequently sentenced to 35 years in prison plus a lifetime of supervised release on April 28, 2025. So today, at age 37, he is incarcerated at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institute – Pekin, where he is expected to remain until 2053.
LaDell Bistline Jr. Has Been Sentenced to Life in Prison in a Federal Prison
While not many details regarding LaDell Jay Bistline Jr.’s background are available at the time of writing, we do know that the Arizona resident worked as an Airport Manager at the time of his 2023 arrest. As for his association with the self-proclaimed prophet of their fundamentalist religious group, he was a follower who reportedly “delivered” two of his own daughters to Sam to be his child brides. According to records, he left his girls — 9 and 11 at the time — to be abused, transported them as well as other victims out of state to facilitate further abuse, and then also participated in group sexual activity.
It has been reported that the group sex activities involved both minor girls and adult women from Sam’s household, all the while often even being broadcast over a video livestream. Therefore, on October 2, 2024, LaDell was found guilty of two counts of transportation of a minor for criminal sexual activity, two counts of using interstate commerce to coerce a minor into sexual activity, two counts of coercing travel to engage in sexual activity, one count of transfer of obscene material to a minor, and one count of receipt of child pornography. As a result, on February 19, 2025, he was sentenced to life in prison, and so, at age 47, he is currently incarcerated at the high-security United States Penitentiary – Tucson, where he is expected to remain for the rest of his natural life.
After 3 Years on House Arrest, Moroni Johnson is in Prison Today
Moroni Johnson was arguably one of Sam’s first and biggest supporters, as their ideas for their sect’s potential future — after leader Warren Jeffs’ arrest — were rather similar. In fact, the aforementioned documentary indicates that Torrance and LaDell actually met the self-proclaimed successor through an elder church member, since they all worked together. After all, it has been reported that Moroni served as a Sales & Marketing Specialist at VelociWrapper from April 2021 to January 2022 and then held the title of Chief Operating Officer at Toro Design and Manufacturing.
According to records, Moroni was allegedly so devoted to Sam that he “delivered” several of his plural wives and all the young ladies under his care to him to marry, including at least 3 minors. He himself soon moved into the basement of one of the so-called leader’s properties, so it has often been argued that he was most involved in his day-to-day activities and offenses. However, following Sam’s late 2022 arrest, his minor daughters’ abduction by their “sister-wives,” and a confrontation with his first wife, he allegedly realized the error in his ways.
Moroni subsequently gave a candid statement to the FBI to help in Sam’s prosecution, before ultimately pleading guilty to his participation in the heinous crimes. He was reportedly on house arrest from 2022 to 2025, reconciling with his children, following which he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to transport a minor for sexual activities in March 2025. On May 12, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, which he is currently serving at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution – Sheridan. He is expected to remain there until his scheduled release date of July 10, 2046.
