Tag: Tony Alamo Christian Ministries

The Arkansas Supreme Court says a judge was right to terminate the parental rights of seven people who saw their 16 children seized from the compound of evangelist Tony Alamo in 2008.

The judge concluded that, among other things, the children faced danger of beatings and forced fasts ordered by the evangelist who was convicted in 2009 of transporting underage girls across state lines for sex and sentenced to 175 years in prison.

Police say John Kolbeck, a man sought for more than two years on charges he beat disobedient followers of a now-convicted evangelist, has died Thursday in Kentucky op an apparent heart attack, Associated Press reports.

Evangelist Tony Alamo is in isolation at the federal prison in Tucson, where he is serving a 175-year term for sex crimes, according to his lawyer.

Attorney John Wesley Hall Jr. of Little Rock said prison officials placed Alamo in the special unit after a physical confrontation with another inmate and allegations Alamo made verbal threats to harm prosecutors and others connected with his criminal case.

According to a recent post on the Website hosted by Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, Alamo is a “political prisoner.”

“The true reason for Pastor Alamo’s imprisonment is exposing the one world government cult,” the Website said.

A federal magistrate judge has indefinitely delayed the civil trial against evangelist Tony Alamo in a lawsuit over alleged abuse at his ministries.

Plaintiffs Spencer Ondrisek and Seth Calagna have already won $3 million judgment against John Kolbek, Tony Alamo’s alleged ‘enforcer.’ Kolbek remains a fugitive.

Alamo is serving a 175-year prison sentence after being convicted of five counts of transporting young girl across state lines for sex. He is appealing that conviction.

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.

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.

Cult leader Tony Alamo should get a new trial because sex with minors was “incidental” to his purpose for traveling across state lines, his lawyer argues in Alamo’s most recent appellate brief.

The lawyer’s brief also argues Alamo deserves to be resentenced by a different judge because of statements U.S. District Judge Harry Barnes made after imposing a 175-year term.

Ex-followers say that by the late 1990s Tony Alamo was living in this sprawling compound with more than a dozen women, some of whom he called his “spiritual wives.”

Though no legal documents were ever signed, Jeanne, Amy and Desiree say they were three of Alamo’s “wives.” But when they said their vows, they hardly qualified as women — they were still girls.