Fouke News

Famed leader of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries Tony Alamo himself will make an appearance in federal court Monday for the start of his trial on charges he took young girls across state lines for sex.

NEWS FLASH TO COME - A core group of Alamo church followers have formed a board of directors to oversee the running of the church. After much consultation with the bible and each other, the board has concluded that their former pastor is financially and spiritually detrimental to the future health of the church. The church will henceforth be run by the board, consisting of male and female members, which will include input from child members when practical. A revamped financial plan would see funds diverted to pay a living wage to all heads of households, to establishing health and dental plans to all members, and to ethical financial investments. From this time forward, all funding for cosmetic enhancements, VIP escorts and tacky clothes will be declined.

It was 1988, and Justin Miller, 11, was pinned face-down over a sofa, waiting for pain. His mother and other members of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in a compound near Saugus held him there as they recited into a telephone a list of charges against him - from giggling in the chapel to disrespecting an adult. On the other end of the line, church founder Tony Alamo briefly deliberated before handing down a "sentence" for each transgression: a total of more than 140 heavy-handed paddles with a wooden plank.

During a closed conference in his chambers in Texarkana, Barnes granted part of a request to bar prosecutors from presenting jurors with information that defense attorneys argued would be inflammatory, but the details of the ruling weren't known Friday.

Prosecutors want the jury to hear about Alamo’s alleged polygamy because, “...the defendant often recited wedding vows with the victims of the charges listed in the indictment in this case,” according to a motion filed late Thursday. “There will be evidence presented that the defendant purchased wedding rings for the victims in this case and would refer to the victims as his ‘wives.’”

Circuit Judge Joe Griffin locked up Don Thorne and Bethany Meyers in January when they refused to tell him where their missing children and spouses were hiding. Thorne was in a custody hearing concerning one of his children when he declined to reveal the location of his other two children. Meyers was cuffed when she wouldn’t disclose where three of her six children could be found. On Thursday, Florida attorney Joe Quick filed motions requesting jury trials and bail for the jailed parents, Griffin said. “It is a motion for a jury trial in juvenile court,” Griffin said. “Historically, there are no jury trials in juvenile court.”

Alamo served four years in federal prison after being convicted in the 1994 tax evasion trial. Alamo took another underage girl across state lines for sex while still living at a halfway house in Texarkana, prosecutors said. "It demonstrates that (Alamo's) true motive in transporting the victims of this case across state lines at various times and in various ways, was not to merely have them available for 'office work,' but that would allow him to maintain his sexual relationship with each of them," the prosecutors' filing reads.

According to a federal court filing, Barnes denied the defense’s request to suppress evidence collected during a raid of ministry property in Fouke, Ark., and denied a request for more specific information about how, when and where Alamo allegedly broke the law as well as four other motions.

Federal prosecutors say jailed evangelist Tony Alamo (uh-LAH'-moh) "married" underage girls he had allegedly had sex with, exchanging wedding vows and giving them rings.

The motion asks that a long list of other topics and vocabulary be declared off limits by the court as well. The defense doesn’t want jurors to hear anything about the accused evangelist’s alleged views on underage matrimony either. “The government intends to put into evidence certain tracts, or sermons, allegedly written by the defendant that justify the marriage of females at puberty,” the motion said.

Douglas Christopher, also known as Allen Matthew Rehn, received three years probation and 164 days in jail for his role in the beating of 12-year-old Justin Miller in 1988 on ministry properties near the Saugus community of Santa Clarita, Calif., said spokesman Sandy Givens. Christopher, 55, was given credit for the 164 days he has already spent in jail and was given permission by Judge Robert Schuit to live in Indiana.

Federal agents say they will increase security at a federal courthouse for jailed evangelist Tony Alamo's upcoming trial. Johnny Larkin of the U.S. Marshal Service says the court has received no threats yet. However, court officials asked reporters on Thursday to not publish photographs of Judge Harry F. Barnes during the course of the trial. Federal agents say the security concerns comes from Alamo's previous trial on a charge that he threatened a federal judge that ruled against him in a series of cases.

Tony Alamo’s defense team has filed a motion requesting the U.S. Government be prohibited from mentioning polygamy or cult activity during his criminal trial on sex abuse charges. “The evidence of multiple relationships with numerous females has a propensity to hit a nerve in some jurors and the chance is great the defendant will be the subject of jury retribution,” the motion said. References to “cult activity” don’t prove Alamo had sex with underage girls while transporting them across state lines as he is accused, the motion argued.

Prosecutors and the attorney general argue the subpoenas are flawed and that the law doesn’t permit the depositions. In addition to giving Harris and Bishop too little notice, the requests can’t be honored because federal and state statutes prevent law enforcement officers from discussing a pending criminal case, the motions argued. The subpoenas also contained multiple errors and references to outdated law, the motions state.

Motions filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Arkansas Attorney General ask a federal judge to deny a request from Tony Alamo Christian Ministries to take the depositions of an FBI agent and Arkansas State Police sergeant. Earlier this week the ministry’s attorney, Phillip Kuhn, served subpoenas on the law officers that also asked them to produce notes, recordings and other documents associated with the criminal investigation of Tony Alamo on sex abuse charges.

Federal prosecutors want Fed Judge Barnes to stop the requested deposition of an FBI agent in a lawsuit by the Tony Alamo Ministries. Prosecutors say the FBI agent who handled the investigation of jailed evangelist Tony Alamo can't be made to testify in a suit brought by his ministry against Arkansas' child-welfare agency. Prosecutors say federal rules prevent the agent from testifying, and the planned deposition comes only days before Alamo is scheduled to stand trial on a 10-count federal indictment.

“This is the type of offense that involves not only physical and sexual abuse but also involves significant emotional abuse,” the government’s response to the defense request for informant identities said. “In assessing this particular factor, the court should consider that the involvement of juveniles requires the court to be particularly cautious in ordering the disclosure of their identities, as they are especially vulnerable and subject to intimidation.”

Little Rock - Federal prosecutors are refusing to name two confidential informants who provided information to the FBI about jailed evangelist Tony Alamo. Prosecutors refused the request in a filing Tuesday to U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes. Prosecutors say Alamo's lawyers failed to offer a convincing reason to name the informants, who offered information that led to a raid on his southwest Arkansas compound. Prosecutors also hint that those informants may be underage girls sexually or physically abused by the 74-year-old evangelist.

Benito Catello is being held in CCDC right now. He was booked on at least 29 counts, including sexual assault, sexual assault on a victim under fourteen years old, and lewdness with a minor under fourteen. Catello is 75. He ran The Ministry, a church out of his home near Owens and Mount Hood, which is in the northeast part of Las Vegas. If convicted, Catello could be done for good. He could spend the rest of his life in prison.

TEXARKANA - A search warrant for Tony Alamo Christian Ministries property based on years-old information wasn't "fatally stale" because pedophiles typically keep incriminating photos of their victims for a long time, according to a document filed Thursday by federal prosecutors.

"Several courts have adopted the proposition that pedophiles typically demonstrate the propensity to hoard and collect items of child pornography," according to the government's response to a defense motion to suppress evidence collected during a September 2008 raid of ministry property at Fouke in Miller County.