Texarcana Gazette - September 20, 2010
A look at Alamo bust, two years later
By Lynn LaRowe
Two years ago today, a long line of Arkansas State Police cruisers and shiny, black, unmarked sedans snaked along U.S. Highway 71 toward Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in Fouke, Ark.
It was controversial evangelist Tony Alamo’s 74th birthday.
FBI agents and state police investigators combed the property for evidence, while Arkansas Department of Human Services staff interviewed children.
Townsfolk and media watched from across the street, waiting for news of what officials were looking for and what they had found.
That night, six girls ages 10 to 17 who had been living in Alamo’s house were placed in state care amid allegations of physical and sexual abuse. Eventually, their parents’ rights to them would be terminated.
Less than a week after the raid, Alamo, whose given name is Bernie LaZar Hoffman, was arrested as he checked out of a hotel in Flagstaff, Ariz. He has been in custody since.
Less than a year after his arrest, Alamo was convicted on all 10 counts in a federal indictment accusing him of transporting five women he wed as children across state lines for sex.
In November 2009, Alamo received a 175-year sentence. He is incarcerated in federal prison in Tuscon, Ariz.
On Tuesday, Alamo’s defense attorney, John Wesley Hall Jr. of Little Rock and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyra Jenner will present oral arguments concerning Alamo’s appeal of his conviction and sentence before U.S. 8th Circuit appellate justices in St. Louis.
Grounds for Appeal
Alamo’s appeal complains that Barnes inserted his “own sense of religiosity” at sentencing when he told Alamo he would someday face a judge with higher and greater authority than that imparted to a federal district judge.
“May he have mercy on your soul,” Barnes said at the sentencing.
The government denies religion played a role at sentencing, noting that Barnes clearly stated that Alamo’s crimes put him in the range of life in prison, according to federal guidelines.
Hall also argues that evidence does support convictions on all 10 counts and that the jury decided the case on emotion.
Where Have All the Children Gone?
In November 2009, while custody hearings concerning the six girls removed the night of the September raid were ongoing, removal orders for all children living on the Fouke and Fort Smith, Ark., compounds were signed by circuit judges in Miller and Sebastian counties.
No children were found on either compound.
In Texarkana, minutes before they would have crossed the state line into Texas, two black SUVs carrying 17 children from the Fouke compound were stopped. The children were placed in the care of child welfare officials. Several other children were taken at the courthouse; a few more were found in the following months.
The whereabouts of about 90 other Alamo Ministries youngsters are unknown. Authorities think the children may be in hiding with their parents.
A civil lawsuit filed in federal court by the ministry accuses the government of using a child abuse investigation to disband Alamo’s loyalists. Barnes threw out the case, but the ministry is appealing.
The ministry complained in the lawsuit that because parents have fled with their children, the ministry’s operations have suffered from the lack of labor.
The Future of Alamo Ministries
If Alamo loses his bid for post-conviction relief, a stay Barnes granted for payment of restitution for the five Jane Does who testified against Alamo might be lifted. Each victim was awarded $500,000.
To collect, the government will seek to liquidate ministry holdings, arguing that though the titles are held in the names of individual members, they are actually controlled by Alamo for his benefit.
In addition to the $2.5 million Alamo owes as restitution, he has yet to pay a $250,000 fine assessed at sentencing.
Next month a civil lawsuit filed by two men who allege they were beaten, starved and forced to labor unpaid for Alamo Ministries is scheduled for trial. Spencer Ondrisek and Seth Calagna are hoping Alamo will be ordered to pay damages.
Last year, Ondrisek and Calagna were awarded a $3 million judgment against fugitive John Kolbek. Kolbek allegedly beat Alamo Ministries members with a long, wooden paddle at Alamo’s bidding.
Kolbek remains at large.
Last month, Texarkana attorney David Carter, who also represents Ondrisek and Calagna, filed a civil suit on behalf of six former members, including the five Jane Does. The litigation names several high-ranking members of Alamo’s organization, including wife Sharon Alamo, as defendants. Ministry-run businesses are also targeted in the suit.
If Alamo Ministries’ properties are seized to satisfy Alamo’s restitution debt or to pay judgments in civil actions, it could leave the members without their compounds in Fouke, Fort Smith and Santa Clarita, Calif.
But for now, members still live on the compounds. In Fouke, colorful flowers dot a well manicured hill on which the ministry’s main building sits.
The ministry’s Website is regularly updated. Recently Alamo’s 1993 tract titled “The Polygamists” was re-posted, along with Alamo-penned articles about the virtues of marriage at puberty.
“Anyone who would believe that polygamy, according to God’s Holy Scripture, is dead, would believe that God is dead, and that the Bible is meaningless,” starts the tract.
It ends with the phrase, “Tony Alamo is probably the greatest patriot this country has ever known.”
This article was found at:
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/localnews/2010/09/20/a-look-at-alamo-bust-two-years-later-46.php
RELATED ARTICLES:
Cult leader Tony Alamo wants new trial, claims sex with child 'brides' was not main reason for trip across state lines
40 years of fraud and abuse by evangelist, Tony Alamo, ended by sex abuse testimonies
Court terminates parental rights of Alamo cult members to protect the rights of their children, 90 children still being hidden
Arkansas court asked to terminate rights of parents in cult, hears prison recordings of Tony Alamo directing followers
Alamo followers refuse to say where children are
Follower of Tony Alamo jailed for hiding children
Children in Alamo case still sought
Judge awards $500,000 each to 5 women sexually abused as minors by jailed evangelist Tony Alamo
The Ravening Wolf: The cult of Tony Alamo
The Barely Legal Empire of Tony Alamo
Controversy Continues To Follow Tony Alamo
Lawyer in Alamo case: Bible no defense for abuse
Cult parents felt they had to sacrifice their daughters to appease Alamo
Timeline of events from Tony Alamo’s arrest to the current trial
Alamo case major test for state DHS
Judge upholds taking of Alamo church kids
Former Follower: Pastor Tony Alamo A 'Monster'
Survivor of abuse in Tony Alamo cult tells her story
For Tony Alamo survivors, religious abuse scars the soul
Amazing survival story of woman who escaped Tony Alamo cult as a teen
Violent Tony Alamo enforcer and fugitive, John Kolbek, to be featured on America's Most Wanted
No comments:
Post a Comment