Prosecutors wrapped up their case Tuesday after playing recordings of phone conversations Alamo had from jail.

In one, Alamo tells a girl she has to clean up a mess she made or leave his compound. In another, women and girls giggle as he discusses how the charges against him might differ had his alleged crimes occurred in Texas or Arkansas.

A woman who said evangelist Tony Alamo “married” her at age 8 told federal jurors Thursday that he sexually assaulted her repeatedly until she escaped his compound in late 2006.

Another woman who noted in her Bible the first time she had sex with evangelist Tony Alamo — at age 14 — told jurors in his sex-crimes trial Thursday that she was married to the flamboyant pastor that year in a prison visiting room

Prosecutors at evangelist Tony Alamo‘s trial will not be able to elicit testimony about Alamo’s beliefs that the Bible does not prohibit polygamy and that girls are ready to be married when they begin menstruating, a judge said Monday.

The word ‘cult’ may also not be used in relation to the preacher’s cult…

A jury of 9 men and 3 women will decide the fate of jailed minister Tony Alamo.

Evangelist Tony Alamo preyed on his loyal followers’ young daughters, once taking a girl as young as 8 as his bride and repeatedly sexually assaulting her, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday.

An attorney said Wednesday that he plans to publish a notice in a newspaper as early as next week giving the man accused of being Tony Alamo‘s “enforcer” 30 days to respond to a lawsuit or risk having a judgment entered against him.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes gave Carter permission to notify Kolbeck of the lawsuit by publishing a notice [in] the Texarkana Gazette.

Today’s edition of RNB’s Religion News Roundup includes two items about witchcraft, one somewhat funny, and one seriously disturbing.

The funny item involves the believe in Tanzania that by use of witchcraft one can transport crops from one farm to another (i.e. stealing in order to save oneself lots of hard work).

The serious item comes from Nigeria, where hundreds of children falsely accused of witchcraft have been killed.

There are also news items about faith healing, a link to resources for religion reporters covering the on-going torture debacle, and more…

A federal judge has delayed the trial for jailed evangelist Tony Alamo until July.

This marks the third time the trial date has been moved.

The controversial preacher was arrested in September 2008 on charges that he transported minors across state lines for sex. Considered a flight risk, Alamo has been denied bail.

Identities of children seized from the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries and details of closed-door custody hearings will be sealed from public view in a federal lawsuit brought by the jailed evangelist’s church, a judge has ruled.

Also, federal prosecutors intend to use evidence gathered during the investigation of other crimes allegedly committed by jailed evangelist Tony Alamo at his upcoming trial.

Evangelist Tony Alamo will remain jailed until his May trial on charges he took young girls across state lines for sex, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Last October another judge also denied bail in order to “assure the safety of the community” and to make sure Alamo does not flee.

A judge’s ruling Wednesday gives two teenagers an extra three months to find the man they say beat them while they were members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries and serve him with a copy of their lawsuit.

But the teenagers’ attorney, W. David Carter of Texarkana, Texas, said he doesn’t expect to wait that long to move forward with the lawsuit, which seeks damages against the ministry’s leader, Tony Alamo, and John Kolbeck, whom authorities have identified as Alamo’s “enforcer.”

Evangelist Tony Alamo has hired Danny Davis, the same lawyer who in 1991 represented him in a child abuse case that never went to trial.

Alamo’s choice of Davis means the evangelist likely wants to attack the credibility of witnesses who will claim the evangelist took young girls across the state lines for sex.

Davis said Thursday that his client’s poor eyesight and diminishing physique would have made it impossible for him to have had sex with underage girls, as federal prosecutors claim.

The number of jailed Tony Alamo Christian Ministries followers rose last week when authorities in California jailed a man on a 20-year-old warrant alleging child abuse.

He, Alamo and four other men were charged in connection with the January 1988 beating of Justin Miller.

Although the criminal charges against Alamo were eventually dropped, a federal judge in the Western District of Arkansas awarded the boy and his family more than a $1 million for their suffering.

Citing a history of underage marriages and beatings for violations of church rules, a judge ruled Wednesday that the parents of 21 children removed from the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries must move off church property and find jobs outside the ministry if they hope to regain custody of their children.

Tony Alamo, the ministry’s 74-year-old leader, is in jail awaiting a May 18 trial on charges that he transported five underage girls across state lines for sex.

A judge on Tuesday upheld the removal of 18 children from the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, saying the children were endangered by the ministry’s history of punishing misbehavior with beatings and of allowing underage marriages.

Judge Joe Griffin also ordered a member of the ministry jailed for contempt after she refused to answer questions about images of ministry children that were posted on a Web site.

Another member of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries was found in contempt of court and ordered jailed Thursday after she refused to say where three of her children are.

Meanwhile, a former ministry member said a man arrested this week on a charge of failing to register as a sex offender has ties to the church dating back to the 1980s.

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