Texarkana Gazette, January 2, 2013
By Lynn LaRowe
A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for February to address a second group of properties in Fouke and Fort Smith, Ark., associated with imprisoned evangelist Tony Alamo.
This month, six properties in Fort Smith, including a church building, will be auctioned to the highest bidder by federal marshals. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant ordered the sale to partially satisfy a $30 million judgment Alamo owes in a civil suit filed by Texarkana lawyer David Carter on behalf of two men raised in the controversial group.
A jury found Alamo guilty of conspiracy, battery and outrage and currently owes Spencer Ondrisek and Seth Calagna each $15 million plus interest in damages.
Loyal followers of Alamo filed claims of ownership to the six Fort Smith properties, which were addressed in court hearings and documents in Bryant’s court. Bryant threw out the members’ claims to the properties listed in the first group and ordered their sale. He found the real estate is actually maintained and held for Alamo’s benefit and profit.
In a Dec. 23 docket entry in the case, Bryant scheduled the February claims hearing and ordered the members who have asserted claims to fill out a questionnaire concerning them property by property. The members making claims have until Jan. 21 to submit the questionnaires to the court or risk having their cases tossed out, Bryant’s order states.
The properties at issue include the house in Fouke where Alamo abused lived polygamously with before his Sept. 20, 2008 arrest for bringing children across state lines for sex. Other parcels include a residential house in Texarkana, Ark., a gym building in Fouke, a residence in Fouke known as the “House of Scorn” where women and girls in Alamo Ministries were held when out of favor with their pastor, and more.
Alamo was found guilty by a jury of all 10 counts listed in a federal indictment charging him with child sex crimes in July 2009. Later the same year, U.S. District Judge Harry Barnes sentenced Alamo to 175 years in federal prison. He is currently serving time at a federal lockup in Tuscon, Ariz.
