Three ex-con televangelists, including one now deceased, all have compared themselves to the Apostle Paul of the early church… you be the judge.
Tony Alamo AP Photo, Evan Lewis, November 13, 2009
Tony Alamo is dead
Tony Alamo’s boring half hour program currently is broadcast three times weekly on the Word Network: Tuesday’s at 7:30 pm and Thursdays at 3:30 am and 11:30 pm.
Alamo once lived in a lavish, 13,064-square foot mansion with a heart-shaped swimming pool; his ministry once had thousands of followers; and he operated many for-profit businesses. One of his businesses sold custom-made sequined jackets to celebrities such as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and Mr. T., but that was before he was convicted of income tax evasion and “marrying” underage girls.
He was sentenced to prison twice—175 years the second time in November 2009.
Mr. Alamo was accused of taking young girls across state lines for sex and arrested in October 2008. Five women ranging from age 17 to 33 told jurors that Alamo “married” them in private ceremonies while they were minors, sometimes giving them wedding rings. Each described trips beyond Arkansas’ borders for Alamo’s sexual gratification.[1]
Alamo believed that young girls were fit for marriage. “Consent is puberty,” he told The Associated Press in 2008.[2] A CNN news clip of his arrest includes audio of Alamo stating that women as young as twelve are ready for marriage as soon as they start their period.[3]
“I’m just another one of the prophets that went to jail for the Gospel,” Alamo called out to reporters afterward as he was escorted to a waiting U.S. marshal’s vehicle.[4]
A jury convicted Alamo in July 2009 of 10 counts spanning 11 years and on November 13, 2009, federal Judge Harry F. Barnes sentenced him to the maximum on each count, for a total of 175 years in prison.[5]
He died in a federal prison hospital in North Carolina in May 2017.
More of Alamo’s Legal Encounters
The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that “Alamo was arrested on a felony child abuse charge in 1989, but it was dismissed six years later. The case involved an 11-year-old boy who was given 140 blows at Alamo’s directions for minor academic infractions. His family later filed suit and won a $1.4 million judgment against Alamo and his ministry.”[6]
Federal agents raided his properties in 1991 when he owed $7.9 million in taxes. He was convicted in 1994 of income tax evasion, served four years in prison, was released in 1998, and went back to his Arkansas-based ministry.
In addition to the criminal convictions, Alamo was found liable in a federal civil trial and ordered to pay $30 million to two men who were raised in the controversial Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. A jury found that those two men were beaten, starved, and denied education and found Alamo liable for conspiracy, outrage and battery.[7]
Another civil judgement was even more telling. Seven women who were victims of physical and sexual abuse brought civil suits, resulting in a $525 million judgment, the largest in Arkansas history.[8]