Witness: Evangelist Had 9-Year-Old Wife

Bail Denied For Tony Alamo In Sex Abuse Case As Former Followers Testify They Were Beaten

(AP)  A federal magistrate called Tony Alamo a flight risk Wednesday as he ordered the evangelist held without bail until his trial on charges that he took a minor across state lines for sex.

The ruling came after Alamo's former followers testified at a hearing that they were often beaten at his instructions and one said Alamo practiced polygamy with several females, including a 9-year-old girl.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant noted that Alamo is charged with a violent crime and said he also considered that Alamo fled a California child-abuse charge in 1989 and was arrested two years later in Tampa, Fla., living under an assumed name. Alamo has access to various vehicles, he said.

Witnesses said Alamo controls businesses and ministry locations in several states. They said none of the properties are Alamo's name, which Bryant also considered as a point against letting Alamo free.

"There is serious risk (Alamo) will flee or fail to appear," Bryant said.

Alamo, 74, said nothing after the ruling. His trial is scheduled for Nov. 19.

He was arrested in Flagstaff, Ariz., five days after a Sept. 20 police raid on the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries compound in the southwest Arkansas town of Fouke. Six girls were taken into state custody for their protection.

During Wednesday's hearing, Arkansas state troopers searched the compound anew, State Police spokesman Bill Sadler confirmed, not elaborating. Fouke Mayor Terry Purvis said residents told him the investigators did not stay long.

One witness called to the stand by prosecutors Wednesday, Jael Sprinkle, 32, testified that she was taken as Alamo's wife at age 17 and was considered his wife for two years. She said that Alamo had five other wives at the time and that she knew of him taking a 9-year-old girl as one.

Alamo is an advocate of allowing girls to marry when they reach puberty but has denied such unions took place within his organization.

Sprinkle said she, her parents and others were beaten. She said a 12-year-old boy was paddled to the point of bleeding through his clothes and could walk only with assistance.

Sprinkle also described Alamo's control over people in his organization, saying he even had to approve inconsequential expenses such as toilet paper and toothpaste.

Spencer Ondirsek, 18, testified that he left the compound last year after spending seven years there.

Ondirsek said he was beaten by a man working under Alamo's direction. He said he was hit about 15 times on the face and smacked about 30 times with a three-foot paddle in three separate instances while being disciplined for minor misbehavior, such as playing with a spray bottle.

The first beating happened when he was 12 or 13, Ondirsek testified.

Defense lawyers called Ronald and Joan Decker, a couple that has belonged to Alamo's church. They said they would move from Fort Smith to Texarkana to watch over Alamo if he was granted release.

Ronald Decker said he drives a truck for Advantage Food, which he described as a partnership, but he couldn't come up with a figure when federal prosecutor Kyra Jenner asked him how much he earned. He later said Alamo paid for all the couple's living expenses.

"Pastor Alamo controls the church," Ronald Decker said.

Ronald Decker initially denied seeing any beatings. But when asked by Jenner whether he was aware Alamo orders paddlings, Decker paused before saying yes.

The federal charging document accuses Alamo of taking a 13-year-old girl across state lines for sex in 2004 and of aiding and abetting her transport across state lines for sex in 2005.

Alamo, who is listed in court documents by his real name of Bernie Lazar Hoffman, has pleaded not guilty to the two charges, each of which carries a sentence of 10 years to life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

[scullr-2009]

He deserves 1Kings 14:10

[timeska]

RELIGION POISONS EVERYTHING

like everything in life in moderation its ok

[andsab]

What a scum bag! I don''t think there''s a place hot enough for him to go.

[tess126]

STOPSOCIALISM; You obviously have NO FEAR OF GOD. Do you honestly think God is so ''busy'' that He won''t take notice of you calling another Christian a "Pathological Liar?" God wants to see your proof, and so do I. You''ve born false witness against another Christian and you have the gall to talk about how you follow Jesus Christ? You aren''t following Him with your lies about Senator Obama, so please stop calling yourself a ''christian'' and a follower of Jesus Christ because He taught His followers to be honest in all their ways; not to do as the evil do.

The sad thing is, you must have thought you could get away with calling another man a ''pathological liar'' and Jesus would give you a pass. That''s a bastardization of everything He ever taught and you do NOT get a pass for something so evil and hateful.

Maybe you should get off-line and go study your Bible before you dig yourself into an even deeper hole.
This election is a test for all, and you''ve shown Jesus that you failed miserably in being one of His followers during this campaign :(

[amercanbiker]

I guess if you want to have a lot of *** and get rich doing it, become an evangelist.

[crowebar5]

Its too bad that con men use the word of God for perversion, but they are definetly NOT Christains. Jesus said the most important commandment is to love the Lord your God above all else and to love your brother as yourself. If we follow that rule, none other is needed.

[lindh4]

Oh well, this is what can be expected of a society that accepts and promotes superstition. Our politicians from state to federal level are primarily composed of Christian fundamentalists.
And there isn''t a dime''s worth of difference between Christianity and any other form of voodoo and witchcraft. In the Old Country, we would have taken these crackpots out in the woods and shot them. All of them.

[nlm2383]

Actually Christians don''''t believe in Santa Claus, we believe in Jesus Christ, who actually exists and walked this earth 2,000 years ago and died on the cross and rose from the grave.

Secondly, we''''re against child rapists and molesters, as these are evil sins, and we''''re also against pathological liars, like Barak Hussein Obama.

The "prophet" Muhammed of islam was a child rapist and molester. Why don''''t you talk about him instead.


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Posted by StopSocialis at 09:11 PM : Oct 22, 2008

I''ll never understand how politics can be brought into a story like this... I also don''t get how Barack Obama has anything to do with Muhammed seeing as how Obama is not Muslim.

[nlm2383]

WWMGD?
(What Would Mel Gibson Do?)



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Posted by rushlimpdrug at 08:12 PM : Oct 22, 2008


HAHAHAHAHA!!

[gop_will_win]

Stupid liberal pedophiles.

[runningralph]

People who call for more religion should keep this man in mind, also Jeremiah Wright, priest child abuse, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Baker, Jim Jones and all the other perverts of the cloth. These people did not act alone. We don''t need more religion, we need more vigilance in the congregation. They can do more damage than a politician.

[hhroams1]

I''ll bet he''s a card carrying member of the GOP''s steering committee!!!!!!!!!!!

[elpaulito]

"perversion of gods word" hahahahaha

It seems that everyone in the world pervert his word.

The nuts that say soldiers die in iraq because of gay marriage, the catholic church scandal, etc...... Should they be castrated too for perverting gods word? What else should be done those who pervert gods word on other ways? Welcome to Saudi Arabia, the christian version.

Alamo should not only be denied bail, he should be castrated and all property should be confiscated by the government placed upon auction for retribution for the damage that he has done to these women and child. This is the perversion of God''''s word similiar to Bin Laden, Reverend Wright,Jim Jones and others all like him. Individuals of this nature need to be locked up for life without any parole.

[radiob21]

Alamo should not only be denied bail, he should be castrated and all property should be confiscated by the government placed upon auction for retribution for the damage that he has done to these women and child. This is the perversion of God''s word similiar to Bin Laden, Reverend Wright,Jim Jones and others all like him. Individuals of this nature need to be locked up for life without any parole.

[chad55555]

This is not the falut of religion,it''s the falut of people falling for anything someone says. We took the true God(Christian)out of schools and the hearts of people(wonder why America is in the shape it''s in) in America and now people are searching for something to help them over rough times.In the case of of the 14 year old in Texas the social workers said called them we find out it was a total lie so the state could take the kids away from their parents. HOW FAR WILL THE GOVERNMENT GO TO MAKE A PERSON LOOK BAD,SOMETIMES THEY ARE BAD BUT MOST OF THE TIME THINGS ARE MADE UP ON PEOPLE SO THELAW CAN DO WHAT THEY WANT AND GET THE PEOPLE ON THEIR side. any more you don"t know what is true and whats not,with social workers making things up to keeps their jobs safe.If this is true then something has to be done but check and recheck knowing how the system is used aginst the people. LOT OF STRANGE PEOPLE{SICK) OUT THERE AND SOME WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENTS.

[thomderr]

It''s sad. Too bad that there isn''t more screening of people that are considered Pastor.

I guess, given the Constitution, almost anyone can start their own church and evade taxes. And ply their own rules.

[irmcvet97]

We are going to continue to have these kinds of problems until we that the ENORMOUS profits out of Religion. No one can start any business and expect a return on it like that of one of these Preachers. When the average American finds themselves scraping to get by these preachers ride around in the finest cars and live in the best of homes. They do NO WORK other than convince people that God wants those hard working simple minded few to send their money to them to fight some supposed evil!! They are SUPPOSED to be about Charity but when you look at them VERY little of the money they get actually GOES for Charity. MOST of it goes into the pockets of people like this Child Molester!!

[elpaulito]

I have a pretty good idea what christianity is all about.

Matthew Sheppard was killed in the name of Jesus.

I see hoards of people trying to stuff their boogieman down my throat

I see hundreds of thousands of Catholic children molested while those who allowed and condoned it hidden away in a townhouse in Rome

I see people actually looking forward to the so-called end of days when jesus will float down from the sky on a cloud

I hear your preachers saying homosexuality is bad, only to end up in bed with gay prostitutes and a bag of meth

I hear the rep vp nominee (and of course that freak J Dobson) saying the election is in gods hands (another way to avoid accountability)

should I continue?

I can go on.........

Scytherius: You have reduced yourself to a puppet. Evangelism is terrible?

Evangelism only means sharing your faith. Jesus told all his followers to do this. It is a must for Christians.

Anyone who decries evangelizing is uninformed about what Christianity is about.

[luckygirl042]

What I don''t understand is why the sheeple keep following these religious perverts. How can they possibly believe that there is a god entity that advocates all of this violence? Why would they even want to follow someone who treats them so horribly? Why, why , why am I even bothering to ask these questions? Religion is the opiate of the m/*****.

[lastdance128]

The Ideology Foundation of Evangelism Has always been :
To Provoke and Instigate : HATE of The JEW - and - HATE For The Jew

Even the famous Evangelical :
Pat Robertson said : "Ariel Sharon''s stroke was divine retribution"
(Wednesday, 11 January 2006 (BBC)

There is NOTHING CHRISTIAN about a
Ideology Disguised as a Religon that :
Teaches and Condones HATE - For any Race of People

Evangelicals have always been Hard Core Supporters of
The Republican NAZI Fascist Party Candidates
Despite Who They are ! !

They Call themselves Christians - Their Actions and Behavior
Say something different ! ! ... Christian Hate ! !