Tony Alamo

U.S. District Judge Harry Barnes sentenced self-proclaimed world prophet Tony Alamo to 175 years in a federal prison Friday morning for child sex abuse crimes spanning more than a decade.

“The court believes you should be incarcerated in a federal prison for the rest of your natural life,” Barnes said. “One day you will face a judge with more authority than me. May he have mercy on your soul.” Barnes also ordered a fine of $250,000.

Before pronouncing sentence the court heard from three of the five Jane Does who testified at Alamo’s criminal trial in July that they’d been taken as brides as children and taken across state lines so Alamo could have sex with them if he chose. Alamo, 75, will remain in a jail in downtown Texarkana until a restitution hearing set for January that will determine what Alamo must pay his victims as recompense for the physical and psychological damages they’ve suffered.

Alamo has already hired lawyers to appeal his conviction and sentence. See tomorrow’s edition of the Texarkana Gazette for more on the sentencing hearing and what the future holds for Alamo and his ministry.

Source/Full Story: texarkanagazette.com
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Should anything negative befall these children as a result of their H1N1 or Gardasil vaccinations, the State will not be liable.  

In a radio interview with Greg Szymanski on September 30, Cheryl Barnes founder of CPS Legal Watch, revealed that the State of Arkansas has given 36 children the swine flu vaccine against their parents’ wishes. The 36 children were taken into custody last fall by the Department of Human Services because the state said they were in jeopardy due to their parents’ involvement with the Tony Alamo Ministries Church.

According to Barnes, all 36 children have received at least one of the three series of H1N1 flu shots and some have received all three.
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Barnes also stated that the 36 children in Arkansas have been vaccinated against other illnesses against their parents’ religious beliefs, including the vaccination of all of the girls with Gardasil.
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Attorneys for CPS Legal Watch filed a motion to stop the vaccinations of these children, but the judge sat on it for six weeks, after which in many cases it was moot, because the children had already been vaccinated and because Judge Griffin of Miller County had terminated the parental rights of some of the parents.

Source/Full Story: examiner.com

Tony Alamo, a one-time street preacher who built a multimillion-dollar ministry and became an outfitter of the stars, was convicted Friday of taking girls as young as 9 across state lines for sex.

Alamo stood silently as the verdict was read, a contrast to his mutterings during testimony. His five victims sat looking forward in the gallery.

“I’m just another one of the prophets that went to jail for the gospel,” Alamo called to reporters as he was escorted to a U.S. marshal’s vehicle.

Shouts of “Bye, bye, Bernie” — Alamo was born Bernie Lazar Hoffman — came from a crowd gathered on the Arkansas side of the courthouse, which straddles the border with Texas.

Jurors were convinced that Alamo had sex with the girls when they were underage, but they deliberated for more than a day to ensure that they considered everything, jury foreman Frank Oller said.

“That was the evidence. That was proven,” Oller said. “We came up with a full decision that we are quite satisfied with.”

Defense lawyer Don Ervin said that the evidence against the 74-year-old preacher was insufficient and that the preacher would appeal. He said Alamo’s criminal history — he served four years in prison on tax charges in the 1990s — “will hurt him” at sentencing in six to eight weeks.

Source/Full Story::  Star-Telegram.com
Technorati Tags: Tony Alamo, Bernie Lazar Hoffman

Prosecutors won’t be able to mention polygamy at the trial of jailed evangelist Tony Alamo, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes made the decision after weeding out about 100 prospective jurors from across western Arkansas for the two-week trial. A pool of 109 potential jurors will return Tuesday to the federal courthouse in Texarkana to answer questions from prosecutors and Alamo’s defense team, hoping to come up with a jury by the end of the day.

Court officials expect opening arguments in Alamo’s trial by Wednesday. He has pleaded not guilty to a 10-count indictment accusing him of taking young girls across state lines for sex.

After dismissing potential jurors, Barnes again heard arguments over a slew of motions filed by Alamo’s defense team. He rejected the majority of them, but allowed defense requests to stop prosecutors from using the word polygamy. Alamo is accused of marrying multiple women in his ministry. Prosecutors say Alamo’s alleged victims received wedding rings and exchanged vows with the 74-year-old.

Barnes granted defense requests to stop prosecutors from discussing Alamo’s belief that the Bible allows women to be married as soon as they reach puberty. Alamo previously has said he believes "consent is puberty." The judge also granted a request to stop prosecutors from talking about Alamo’s sexual relationship with women over the age of consent.

Source/Full Story: The Associated Press

Lawyers for jailed evangelist Tony Alamo have asked a federal judge to order prosecutors to provide Alamo’s defense with details of the crimes he is accused of committing.

Alamo’s defense team filed several motions yesterday in U.S. District Court at Texarkana. The 74-year-old Alamo faces a July 13 trial on a 10-count indictment accusing him of taking young girls across state lines for sex.

The motions asked the court to order the government to produce a bill of particulars that includes specific dates and places where the supposed crimes occurred, and names of people involved.

The defense said it wants to know which state lines were crossed, the exact manner in which Alamo is accused of breaking the law and specific dates and times instead of ranges of months. The U.S. attorney’s office could not be reached for comment.

Source/Full Story: KTHV

In a motion filed Tuesday, the lawyer representing Tony Alamo Christian Ministries requests a hearing to examine evidence in a civil suit accusing the Arkansas Department of Human Services of harassment and civil rights violations.
The motion comes just a week after U.S. District Judge Harry Barnes of the Western District of Arkansas issued an order that essentially halted proceedings in the case until the court decides if the church has standing in federal court.

Source/Full Story: texarkanagazette.com

Jailed evangelist Tony Alamo has once again made some changes to the team of lawyers who will defend him against sexual abuse charges in a federal courtroom in July.

Danny Davis of California—whom Alamo hired to replace Little Rock lawyer John Wesley Hall Jr. in March as his lead defense attorney—is no longer involved in the case.

“What has happened were things that needed to happen in terms of lawyers getting into the case and then getting out. I don’t think it’s Pastor Alamo’s fault,” said Houston attorney Don Ervin, who joined in Alamo’s defense April 3.

Source/Full Story:   texarkanagazette.com

A follower of jailed evangelist Tony Alamo has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of failing to register as a sex offender.

Jonathon Patrick Curry pleaded guilty to the charge Thursday in federal court at Fort Smith. Forty-nine-year-old Curry could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Curry was arrested Jan. 13 at a Tony Alamo Christian Ministries warehouse in Fort Smith, where prosecutors say he lived.

Curry served more than five years in a Nevada prison on a charge of attempted lewdness with a child younger than 14.

Alamo is awaiting trial in July on charges he transported juvenile girls across state lines for sex.

Source/Full Story:   startribune.com

Jury selection will begin July 13 for the evangelist who is accused of bringing young girls across state lines for sex.
U.S. District Judge Harry Barnes granted Tony Alamo’s defense team’s request for a new trial date during an in-chambers meeting Friday morning.
“This is going to be a very difficult trial,” California attorney Danny Davis said outside the federal courthouse in Texarkana. “I hope we will have cast a different light on this story by the time we’re done.”

Source/Full Story: texarkanagazette.com

U.S. District Judge Harry Barnes granted Alamo’s attorney’s request to delay the trial, which had been set to begin May 18. In a one-page order issued Friday, Barnes said that the "ends of justice served by the granting of the continuance outweighs the best interests of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial."

The trial is now set for 9 a.m. July 13.

todaysthv.com

An 11-year-old boy who spent five months in foster care will return home to his father, a member of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries who lives in New Jersey, after a judge found no evidence the boy had been abused or neglected, the father’s attorney said Wednesday.

The boy was taken into custody by the New Jersey Department of Children and Families’ Youth and Family Services Division in January after a report that the boy had been physically abused, said attorney Rosemarie Anderson of Iselin, N.J. Anderson was appointed by the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender to represent the father, Steve Wedel.

The Youth and Family Services Division later determined that the allegations were unfounded, Anderson said. After a hearing in Elizabeth, N.J., on Tuesday, a state Superior Court judge ordered the boy returned to his father within five days, Anderson said.

“I think it took a little longer than it should have, but in the end the right thing was done,” Anderson said.

Source/Full Story:: NWAnews.com

Federal prosecutors say further delaying the trial of jailed evangelist Tony Alamo would jeopardize arrangements to bring dozens of witnesses from across the country to Texarkana.

In a filing Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyra Jenner says some of those witnesses are “hostile” and may try to evade testifying if Alamo’s trial is delayed. Jenner says more than 240 potential jurors also have been summoned for the case.

Alamo, 74, is scheduled to go to trial May 18 on a 10-count indictment accusing him of taking young girls across state lines for sex. Alamo’s lawyer, Danny Davis of Beverly Hills, Calif., asked for a four-month delay in the trial Tuesday. Davis said he needed more time to prepare and had to undergo surgery.

Source/Full Story:: WXVT.com

Two followers of jailed evangelist Tony Alamo remain in jail themselves after again refusing to tell an Arkansas judge where their children are.

Both parents, a man and a woman from different families, were jailed in January for refusing to tell Miller County Circuit Judge Joe Griffin where their other children were. Griffin, who held hearings for four families Thursday, previously said the parents would not be freed until they “purge” their contempt.

Since a September raid on the church’s compound in Fouke, state officials have seized 36 children associated with the ministry. Officials believe nearly 100 more remain hidden by church families as Alamo faces federal charges of taking young girls across state lines for sex.

“The children (already seized) will remain where they are, in the state’s custody,” Griffin told the Texarkana Gazette after the hearings Thursday. “The parents will continue to work the case plans as ordered by the court.”

If the parents want their children returned, they must participate in counseling and other programs. Griffin and fellow Circuit Judge Jim Hudson also have ordered parents to sever their economic, employment and residential ties with the church to get their children back.

Source/Full Story:: Pine Bluff Commercial Online Edition

Lawyers for the state are arguing that filings in a suit by Tony Alamo Christian Ministries against child-welfare officials should be kept confidential because much of the evidence involves records that federal law requires keeping secret.

The state lawyers Monday asked a federal judge to seal the record in the case.

The suit was filed April 10 in U.S. District Court at Texarkana. It accuses state officials of persecuting the evangelist’s followers as he awaits trial on child sex charges. Lawyer Phillip E. Kuhn of Lakeland, Fla., filed the suit on behalf of two Alamo followers.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to issue a restraining order blocking the state from seizing children solely because their parents belong to the church. The suit also asks a judge to stop the state from forcing parents to leave the church in order to regain custody of their children.

Monday’s filing by lawyers for the state asks a federal judge to seal the record in the case. It also seeks a protective order requiring parties to the case to assure the court they will not disclose information from the case to anyone not involved in it.

The state’s filing said the two men who filed the suit are defendants in an ongoing dependency-neglect proceeding in Miller County Circuit Court. According to the state filing, substantial portions of the documents and information needed by the defense are found in foster-care records and juvenile court files that contain information protected by law.

Source/Full Story:: Channel 7 News

A federal judge in Arkansas has rejected jailed evangelist Tony Alamo’s request for bail while he awaits trial on charges he took young girls across state lines for sex.

U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes issued an order Wednesday denying a defense request to consider setting bail for Alamo.

Bail was denied last year by a federal magistrate judge, and Barnes said Alamo should have immediately appealed that decision then. The magistrate said Alamo was a flight risk and a danger to the community.

The 74-year-old Alamo was arrested in Flagstaff, Ariz., in September, five days after a raid on his ministry’s compound in southwest Arkansas.

Alamo denies the allegations.

His trial is set for May 18.

Source/Full Story:: yahoo.com