Women Who Claim They Were Child Brides In The USA

Women Who Claim They Were Child Brides in the USA

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Two of these women say they were child brides of the same man. One woman risked everything to escape. Now, our cameras follow her back to the compound.
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Posted on May 21, 2010 11:41 AM
Oprah talks to women who claim they were child brides, right here in the United States. They say they were members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministry at the height of its popularity in the ’80s, when some faithful followers believed there was no higher honor than becoming one of his spiritual wives. Find out why these young women are talking now.

This appeal is one of three cases decided today that involve children who were taken into emergency custody by DHS from the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries compound in Fouke, Arkansas, in September 2008. Appellant Brian Broderick is the father of two girls, S.B. and A.B., taken into custody and challenges the circuit court’s order adjudicating his daughters dependent-neglected. Judge Joe Griffin heard this case and the one concerning Alphonso Reid’s daughters, A.R. and C.R., at the same hearing. Judge Jim Hudson heard the proceeding concerning Greg Seago’s daughter, V.S. Many witnesses testified at both hearings, and some testimony was consolidated in all three cases. Where possible, we will refer to the evidence discussed at length in the Seago opinion in order to avoid repetition.

Broderick has been a member of the ministry for over twenty-five years. He works
for and lives on property used by the ministry. S. B., the mother of S.B. and A.B.,
married Broderick in 1989 in the ministry when she was fifteen or sixteen. She left the ministry in early 2008 and is now living in Virginia with her fourteen-year-old daughter, M.B., and her adult son, N. B.. Although S. B. was involved in the
adjudication proceeding, she has not appealed the adjudication order. The Brodericks’ fifteen year-old son lives with his father. S.B., who was born December 1995, and A.B., who was born June 1997, lived at Alamo’s residence before they were taken into custody by DHS.

S. O. testified in this hearing and in the Seago hearing. As in the Seago
case, he talked about the iron control held by Tony Alamo over the members of the ministry. In both hearings, he testified about being beaten by John Kolbeck [Kolbek] when he was twelve; his second beating by Kolbeck in 2006, when his sister, A.O., was also beaten; and a third beating in October 2007. S.O. stated that parents must get permission from Alamo to take their children to the doctor, and that he never saw a parent try to prevent their child from being beaten. He explained that fear played a vital role in keeping everyone under control. He testified that the members of the church were taught that if they left, they would fall into sin; that they could not trust the government, which was the “anti-Christ”; and that they could not go to the government for help. S. O. said that his parents would not speak to him after he left the ministry.

M.B., who also testified at the Seago hearing, testified that she, S.B., A.B., A.R., V.S., B.S., A.T., and M.E. were underage females who lived at Alamo’s house with the adult women who were known to be Alamo’s wives. She said that D.K. moved into Alamo’s house when she was eight, and that S.H. moved there when she was about ten. M.B. said that she saw both D.K. and S.H., who were known as his wives and had wedding rings, go into Alamo’s bedroom and shut the door, staying there for hours. As in the Seago hearing, she described her sexual molestation and threats by Tony Alamo when she was in the shower. She
said that she did not tell her parents about the molestation because they would not have believed her over Alamo. As in the Seago hearing, she described her beating by John Kolbeck when she was ten years old, and talked about being forced to participate in a recording with B.S., V.S., and A.R., wherein the underage girls denied having been molested by Alamo.

M.B. also testified that she witnessed her sister S.B. being beaten by Michelle [Misheal] Jones, one of Alamo’s wives, with a board, while M.B. was forced to help hold her sister down. Another time, she said, she observed Alamo catch B.S. by the throat and shove her against the wall. She also said that she heard B.S. being beaten by Kolbeck as she screamed that she wanted her mother.

D. O. also testified in both hearings. He described his punishment on “diesel therapy” and said that the whole church was placed on a week-long fast when he was eight or nine years old. He stated that, after his sister Alice [Alys] moved in with Alamo when she was ten or eleven, his family’s status improved. His mother received a new Dodge Caravan; his father got an expensive digital camera; they moved into a very large house in Texarkana; and his parents obtained better jobs in the ministry. He stated, “It is common knowledge that if you move into Tony’s house and you are spending a certain amount of years there, you are one of his wives. I mean he definitely doesn’t have boys coming over all the time. It’s only little girls and they usually never move out.”
A. D. also testified in both hearings. She said that her sister Pebbles was one
of Alamo’s wives and described seeing several young girls go into Alamo’s bedroom; she saw Alys Ondrisek go into Alamo’s room and stay for three or four days. She stated that Alamo talked about how beautiful Alys Ondrisek was and referred to her as his wife. As in the Seago hearing, she described her periods of imposed fasting and her physical punishment. She described the beatings of other young girls, including A.O., and Kolbeck’s beating of D. O. and S. O. She testified that, when they were tipped off about an upcoming raid, the younger girls who were Alamo’s wives were sent out of Alamo’s residence, and that she observed some pictures of his underage wives being removed from his belongings.

The video taped depositions of N. B. and J. C., which were played in the Seago hearing, were also admitted in this hearing.

A.R., Alphonso Reid’s stepdaughter, also testified about being beaten and
forced to fast as punishment. She said that the primary reason why she left the ministry was because Alamo did not permit her to obtain medical attention for her son, who was born with a serious medical condition. A. R. testified that Alamo has multiple wives and that she witnessed J.G. and W.T. marry thirty-year-old men when J.G. was twelve and W.T. was thirteen. A. said that she had only completed the eighth grade.

Dr. Karen Worley’s testimony in this hearing was significantly similar to her testimony in the Seago hearing. She said that the girls in this proceeding did not reveal any sexual abuse.
She stated that C.R., A.B., and S.B. talked about how the government thought that Alamo was a pedophile and appeared to have been coached before their interviews with investigators.

Robbie Polite, with DHS, testified that, although S.B. and A.B. had received some
immunizations, they were not up-to-date, according to the records in Arkansas.
S.B. testified that, since she was eleven years old, she and A.B. had primarily lived in Alamo’s house. She described a spanking that Alamo ordered one of his wives, Michelle Jones, to give her: “After he got off the phone, Tony said he was going [to] have Michelle spank me and I begged him not to and he said, yes, he was going to, I needed to learn my lesson and he took me into his room and got the paddle from behind his desk and had all my friends and everybody in the office come into his room and said for all them to watch me. . . .I was scared. I was crying. I asked him not to do this. We went into Tony’s room and he had four people hold me, hold my arms and legs down and he told me to bend over on his bed and I believe it was, do I need to say the name? It was Lydia, Sharon Alamo, Yvonne. She is known as Pebbles. And I can’t remember who else . . . but I got beat four times with the board. . . . He didn’t know how many licks I was going to get. He . . . had a smile on his face and just watching me and he whispered something to Michelle and Michelle just gave me four. After it was done I said thank you. I said that because I believed that he was doing it because he loved me and that’s what he said. . . . I had marks on my thighs. They were big bruises and, you know, my blood vessels had broken inside my skin. They were blue, purple, and black. They hurt. I felt the pain for about three weeks. About the first week I couldn’t sit down, but the second week after that I could. I did not report the pain because I was scared. Tony has slapped me probably five times. I think, five. He slapped my face. Well one time it was because he said I was giving him a dirty look, and which I wasn’t but. [sic] That caused me to question him being blind.”

S.B. said that she did not tell her father about the spanking or that Alamo had slapped her.

Bernie Lazar Hoffman, aka Tony Alamo, testified that he did not have total control over the members of the church. He denied the allegations of sexual abuse. He affirmed his belief in the Bible’s teachings that polygamy is acceptable and that girls can be married after they reach puberty. He denied, however, actually practicing polygamy, or condoning or permitting the marriage of underage girls.

He said that he had not witnessed A.O.’s “spanking” by Kolbeck, but acknowledged that he had witnessed S.O.’s “spanking.” He called the reports of beatings “exaggerated.” A significant amount of his testimony concerned his religious beliefs and was not relevant to the issues presented in this
appeal.

Alphonso Reid denied having any knowledge of beatings, sexual abuse of young girls, underage marriages, or fasts. He admitted that he had permitted Tamela to live in Alamo’s house since she was eleven or twelve; that A.R. and C.R. had also lived there; and that he had lived apart from the girls in Fouke. He said that when he was not traveling for work with the ministry, he lived in the brothers’ dorm, and admitted being away from Fouke for months at a time. He acknowledged seeing J. G. with her husband, and that he knew about the recording Alamo had made with the girls, as well as the allegations of sexual abuse. He admitted asking Alamo for permission to marry A.D., but said that the marriage did not occur because she was underage and she did not want to marry him; he said that the idea “was from the devil.” He said that he thought that Alamo was a prophet and did not believe that Alamo had sexually abused any girls.

Brian Broderick denied knowing that children had been beaten, sexually abused,
slapped, or forced to fast, and described the ministry as a great environment in which to raise children. He did not believe any of the witnesses testifying to such abuse and called his children, M.B. and N., liars. In fact, he said that there was nothing anyone could do to make him believe that Alamo, whom he considered to be a prophet, had molested M.B. He acknowledged that he had been aware of the allegations of sexual abuse because he had heard the recording of Alamo and the girls and had attended some Fouke city council meetings. He admitted permitting his daughters to live at the mission, where Alamo resides, while he worked out of town for months at a time. He said that he has done construction work for the ministry most of his life, and that he is totally dependent upon it for all of his needs.

On January 6, 2009, Judge Griffin entered an order adjudicating S.B. and A.B.
dependent-neglected for the same reasons that Judge Hudson gave in the Seago order. He found S.O., D.O., A.R., M.B., J. C., and S.B. credible. He found Broderick, Reid, and Tony Alamo not credible. He imposed the same requirements on Broderick as Judge Hudson did on Seago—that he obtain housing and employment outside of the ministry.

The same day, Judge Griffin entered an order adjudicating A.R. and C.R. dependent-neglected for the same reasons, and imposing the same requirements on Reid. He made the same credibility findings.

Broderick challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the adjudication order and attacks the credibility of the witnesses who said anything negative about the ministry. As Seago argued, he contends that there was no medical evidence that the fasts were dangerous or that the children were injured. He disputes that the children were neglected medically or educationally. He also asserts, for the first time on appeal, that the trial court’s requirement that he obtain employment and housing outside of the ministry is unconstitutional. We do not address arguments raised for the first time on appeal.

See Ark. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs.
v. Jones, 97 Ark. App. 267, 248 S.W.3d 507 (2007).
Adjudication hearings are held to determine whether the allegations in a petition are substantiated by the proof.
Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-327(a)(1) (Supp. 2009).
Dependency neglect allegations must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence.
Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-325(h)(2)(B) (Supp. 2009).

We will not reverse the circuit court’s findings unless they are clearly erroneous. Brewer v. Ark. Dep’t of Human Servs., 71 Ark. App. 364, 43 S.W.3d 196
(2001).

In reviewing a dependency-neglect adjudication, we defer to the circuit court’s
evaluation of the credibility of the witnesses. Id. The focus of an adjudication hearing is on the child, not the parent. At this stage of a proceeding, the juvenile code is concerned with whether the child is dependent-neglected. An adjudication of dependency-neglect occurs without reference to which parent committed the acts or omissions leading to the adjudication; the juvenile is simply dependent-neglected.
See Howell v. Ark. Dep’t of Human
Servs., 2009 Ark. App. 138; Albright v. Ark. Dep’t of Human Servs., 97 Ark. App. 277, 248
S.W.3d 498 (2007).

Arkansas Code Annotated section 9-27-303(18)(A) (Supp. 2009) defines a “dependent neglected juvenile” as any juvenile who is at substantial risk of serious harm as a result of abandonment, abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or neglect. The definition of “neglect” in section 9-27-303(36)(A) includes acts or omissions of “a parent, guardian, custodian, foster parent, or any person, who is entrusted with the juvenile’s care by a parent,” that constitute:

(i) Failure or refusal to prevent the abuse of the juvenile when the person knows or has reasonable cause to know the juvenile is or has been abused;

(ii) Failure or refusal to provide the necessary food, clothing, shelter, and education required by law, . . . or medical treatment necessary for the juvenile’s well-being . . . ;

(iii) Failure to take reasonable action to protect the juvenile from abandonment, abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, neglect, or parental unfitness when the existence of this condition was known or should have been known;

(iv) Failure or irremediable inability to provide for the essential and necessary physical, mental, or emotional needs of the juvenile, including failure to provide a shelter that does not pose a risk to the health or safety of the juvenile;

(v) Failure to provide for the juvenile’s care and maintenance, proper or necessary
support, or medical, surgical, or other necessary care;

(vi) Failure, although able, to assume responsibility for the care and custody of the
juvenile or to participate in a plan to assume the responsibility; or

(vii) Failure to appropriately supervise the juvenile that results in the juvenile’s being left alone at an inappropriate age or in inappropriate circumstances, creating a dangerous situation or a situation that puts the juvenile at risk of harm.
The evidence introduced at this hearing presented a clear picture of the danger to
children in the ministry compound at Fouke. There was testimony that many children were beaten, including M.B., S.B., and their brother; A.R.; and C.R. Several were placed on fasts. S.O. was given “diesel therapy” and his brother D. was imprisoned in a warehouse for eight months. Alamo slapped S.B. and shoved B.S. against a wall. There was evidence that Alamo molested M.B., and that he “married” several young girls. There was testimony that it was normal for underage girls to be married to much-older men. In spite of the evidence demonstrating that sexual abuse of underage girls, beatings, and fasts were widely known within the ministry, Broderick denied knowing of any potential danger to his children.

The evidence presented at this hearing sufficiently demonstrated that the environment in which Broderick placed his children was dangerous. Given the juvenile code’s goal of preventing the abuse of children before it occurs, if at all possible, we have no hesitation in affirming the circuit court’s finding that these were children dependent-neglected.

Affirmed.
VAUGHT, C.J., and MARSHALL, J., agree.
10 CA09-244

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Tony Alamo’s Enforcer On The Run

Cops: Fugitive Beat Followers For Slip-Ups

While Tony Alamo might be in jail for transporting minors over state lines for sex, another dangerous member of his church is still on the run. Cops say John Kolbek helped keep the Alamo followers in line… by beating them into submission.

The Full Story Below:

The Alamo Empire

In the late 1960s, Tony Alamo and his wife Susan began the Tony and Susan Alamo Christian Ministries by recruiting the hippies and homeless off Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, Calif. The group officially incorporated into the Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation on January 29, 1969.

Cops say Susan Alamo was the brains of the foundation and instructed Tony Alamo on how to act and what to say. The couple bought airtime and began spreading their message on the airwaves. Tony, a self-proclaimed singer and record promoter, performed religious songs live, while Susan preached the Bible.

While the group continued to gain followers, the Alamos gained power. However, their empire faltered when Susan was struck down with breast cancer. Ex-members say this was when Tony Alamo began to show a darker side.

He allegedly forced his followers to pray around his dead wife’s body all day and night, convinced she would rise from the dead. When her body decayed instead of resurrecting, ex-followers say Alamo told them Susan would return to him in the body of a younger woman.

In the early 90s, Alamo was sued by the IRS for back taxes, and became a fugitive for two years. After he was captured and served jail time, he returned to his church and took up old habits.

This is when cops say Alamo began to prey on young women in his church. In order to do this, he needed to control his followers. This is where John Kolbek entered the picture.
According to later testimony, Kolbek’s daughter was married to Alamo when she was only eight years-old.

The Enforcer

Ex-members say Kolbek got into Alamo’s good graces when he allowed his daughter to live with Alamo when she was six years-old. According to later testimony, the child was “married” to Alamo when she was only eight. After this precious gift, Kolbek became Alamo’s right-hand man.

Alamo allegedly became extremely controlling in every aspect of his follower’s lives. They had to submit their phone records to him, and they could not purchase clothing, food, or any other item without his approval. Ex-followers said they could not watch television without Alamo’s consent. In exchange, Alamo gave his followers salvation.

According to ex-followers, church members believed that God was actually speaking through Alamo. Alamo preached fire and brimstone, saying that the end was coming and that he would bring those who followed him into heaven. He threatened his churchgoers, saying those who left the church would become insane or homosexual, and would burn in hell when they died. This type of fear kept his flock from straying.

If anyone were to question Alamo, they would be summoned to see Kolbek. Kolbek had what was known as the “board of education,” a three foot long, six inch wide wooden board used to beat followers into submission. Ex-members said it was unpredictable when they would get beaten. There are documented records of members being beaten for playing in the dirt, making a joke about Harry Potter, playing with squirt bottles, making repairs that didn’t hold, and other meaningless “crimes.”

But while the crimes were meaningless, the beatings weren’t.
Here’s Johnny!

Ex-members say the beatings would consist of person holding each limb, while the victim was held aloft. Kolbek would then take out the board and beat the person relentlessly, sometimes to the point of unconsiousness. In one case, Alamo was quoted as introducing John Kolbek by saying, “Here’s Johnny!” Another time, he was reported as saying, “Do you think I like doing this? I love doing this!”

These beatings were allegedly given to adults and children alike. In one case, ex-members say Alamo even ordered Kolbek to “beat the devil” out of a little girl with epilepsy.

When two teenage boys escaped the Alamo compound, they reported the alleged abuse to police. The beatings one boy sustained were so intense, there was still visible bruising from a beating six months prior.

Police raided the Alamo compound on September 21, 2008 and removed the girls living in Alamo’s house. They raided the area again in November, seized more children, and placed them into foster homes.

Alamo has since been convicted of transporting minors over state lines for sex, and sentenced to 175 years in prison. Kolbek was able to escape authorities, and is on the run. He might be traveling with this wife, Jennifer, and four children belonging to another member on the church. The children are under the guardianship of Jennifer Kolbek, and police are concerned for the children’s safety.

Wanted For:

* Second Degree Battery , Fort Smith , AR ; Oct 16, 2008

(Information valid as of December 11, 2009)

Witness: Alamo said ‘The Lord told me to abuse’

A third-generation follower of evangelist Tony Alamo told federal court jurors Wednesday that the preacher had so many sex partners that he scheduled how often he would sleep with them.

The 30-year-old woman said she was one of Alamo’s wives, marrying him at age 15.

Alamo is named in a 10-count indictment alleging he took young girls across state lines for sex. He has pleaded not guilty. The woman told jurors she traveled to California, Tennessee and West Virginia to be available for the now 74-year-old minister.

In testimony, the woman said she began to have questions after Alamo graphically described what he had done to an 8-year-old girl holding a stuffed animal. She said Alamo told her she shouldn’t question what “the Lord told me to do.”

Witness: Evangelist had total control of compound

A woman whose parents and grandparents followed evangelist Tony Alamo testified at his sex-crime trial Wednesday that “Papa Tony” segregated children by gender to prevent “hanky-panky” and controlled everything at his religious compound.

The woman, now 30, said children in the compound were not allowed to attend public schools and instead took classes that Alamo himself approved. She also said the pastor’s consent was needed if a follower wanted to obtain food or clothing, or borrow a car from the motor pool.

“He had control over everything,” the woman said.

Alamo, 74, is accused of taking five girls across state lines for sex between 1994 and 2005. The woman did not testify about any specific allegations before the judge ordered a recess so workers could fix a broken computer monitor at the defense table.

The woman said her first memory of Alamo was from age 3, when his ministry was based along Georgia Ridge in far western Arkansas. Her family moved to New York briefly in 1991 after federal marshals seized the land amid Alamo’s disputes with the IRS and Labor Department.

In the fifth grade, she said, Alamo ordered boys and girls into separate classrooms.

“He said he didn’t want, as he put it, any hanky-panky between boys and girl,” the woman said.

In 1992, the girl was a young teen and had returned to western Arkansas. She and other girls worked as baby-sitters and also had to help in the church office or wrap candy at one of Alamo’s business ventures. Her mother, she said, purchased groceries to feed the flock.

Prosecutors alleged in their opening statement Tuesday that Alamo took a girl as young as age 8 as a bride and repeatedly sexually assaulted her and that at least four other girls were raped or assaulted as well. Defense lawyers say the girls traveled the country for outreach and to support the business interests of a “bona fide religious group.”

Jurors were expected to hear from Alamo’s alleged victims early in the trial. While the woman who testified Wednesday did not discuss specific sex crimes, it is expected that she will. The Associated Press generally does not identify alleged victims of sex crimes.

In questioning Wednesday, a woman in a photograph shown to the witness was identified as “one of Tony Alamo’s wives” – drawing a sharp objection from Alamo’s lawyers. U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes has said references to Alamo’s alleged polygamy is off limits.

After a few minutes of discussion at the bench, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyra Jenner referred to women in the photos as “residents” of Tony Alamo’s home.

During the bench conference, Alamo grabbed a book of photos from the defense table and looked at the pictures from a distance of about 2 inches. The woman on the stand smiled occasionally while looking around the courtroom. During a glance at Alamo she wiped away a tear.

Defense lawyers say the government targeted the ministry for prosecution and Alamo says the trial is part of a Vatican-led conspiracy against him.

“This investigation, this prosecution was fueled by prejudice the government and law enforcement have against Tony Alamo’s church because of its practices,” said Don Ervin, who is leading Alamo’s defense team.

Alamo, whose ministry grew into a multimillion industry on the backs of his followers, was convicted of tax evasion charges in 1994. He served four years in prison after the IRS said he owed the government $7.9 million.

In 1991, Alamo was acquitted of threatening a federal judge – a case that fueled an extraordinary increase in security efforts for Alamo’s current trial.

State and federal agents raided Alamo’s compound in far southwestern Arkansas last September. Alamo was later named in a 10-count indictment.

If convicted, Alamo faces 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count. He is being held without bond until the end of his trial.

Witness: Evangelist controlled everything

A woman whose parents and grandparents followed evangelist Tony Alamo testified at his sex-crime trial Wednesday that “Papa Tony” segregated children by gender to prevent “hanky-panky” and controlled everything at his religious compound.

The 30-year-old said children in the compound were not allowed to go to public schools and instead took classes that Alamo himself approved. She also said obtaining food or clothing, or borrowing a car from the motor pool, had to be OK’d by the pastor.

Alamo is accused of taking five girls across state lines for sex. The woman did not testify about any specific allegations before the judge ordered a recess so workers could fix broken equipment in the courtroom.

Alamo has pleaded not guilty.

Southwest Times Record
June 21, 1996

Ex-wife: Alamo took away childhood

When she was 6, Jody moved to Alma from Connecticut with her mom, step dad and sister, and became a part of Tony Alamo’s Holy Alamo Christian Church.

The family soon moved into the Alamo compound on Georgia Ridge in Dyer, where Jody gave her heart to God and her life to Tony Alamo.

In return, Jody says, Tony Alamo took away her childhood at the age of 10 by putting her to work eight hours or more a day in the church’s denim jacket business.

And when she was 17, he took her virginity after making her one of the three “wives” he had at the time.

After nearly a year of being “married” to Jody (in a ceremony consisting of Tony mumbling a prayer and asking, “Do you marry me?” and her replying, “I do,” in front of two church members in a California hotel room) Alamo “divorced” her. Jody has since left the church, testified against Tony in a federal income tax case and struggled to cope with life outside the church and Tony Alamo,

Jody, now 20, says even though she’s out of the church, not an hour of each day goes by that she doesn’t worry about those still controlled by Alamo from his cell in a Texarkana, Texas, federal prison, where he is serving a six-year sentence.

Tony’s so into The Old Testament now, he believes it’s alright for him to have as many wives as he wants,” she says. “And before I left him, he was talking about having people in the church stoned for committing adultery and things and even sacrificing animals in worship.”

Jody’s testimony in a 1994 tax case against Alamo, which was supported by documents she had quietly accumulated, proving Alamo lived lavishly on unreported income, helped the IRS put Alamo behind bars. He was convicted of understating his income and failing to file tax returns on unreported church income of about $9 million from 1985-88.

Before the conviction, Alamo had faced various other state and federal criminal charges, including a 1991 charge of threatening to kidnap U.S. District Judge Morris Arnold of Fort Smith. (Jody says she was among many other followers who listened to Tony’s taped message describing how he was going to “judge the judge and hang him.”)

Following her testimony against Alamo in the tax case, a scathing personal condemnation of her was printed in a Holy Alamo Christian Church leaflet plastered in public places all over the country by Alamo followers.

The pamphlet, “Lying for Fun and Profit,” included about a dozen “affidavits” signed by Alamo followers including Jody’s stepfather and half-brother. The affidavits accuse Jody of being a rebellious troublemaker and habitual liar.

But the affidavit statements are lies, Jody says. She says if Alamo followers are taught that if they hear anyone criticize him and don’t come to his defense, all the curses in the Bible will befall them. They also believe Tony is infallible and his authority over them is absolute.

“He uses the Bible to bring people in to be saved but uses their gratitude for salvation to make them feel they have to stay in his church,” she says. “I found out that living with Tony and living in the church as a ‘no one’ is totally different.”

Jody says she believed it was wrong to marry Tony, knowing he had other wives, but could not refuse him. But she said she put off consummation of the marriage until it was forced on her, because she was repulsed by the thought of sexual relations with Alamo. After that she said she contin¬ued to submit but was “like a corpse” to his advances, which he griped about.

While living as Alamo’s wife, she got to dine with him at swanky restaurants, watch him become drunk on $200-a-bottle wine at a Beverly Hills Country Club and wear expensive clothes, Jody said. She still has, but doesn’t wear, wedding rings he bought her.

But she felt guilty living so well while most other Alamo followers existed in near poverty conditions while working long hours in the church’s production of high-priced, hand-painted and decorated denim jackets.

Jody says Alamo still has a loyal follow¬ing across the country. He directs his flock and witness teams through messages and sermons he tapes from his prison cell, and orders the printing of his notorious church pamphlets in Fort Smith and Fayetteville,

After federal officers seized Alamo’s Georgia Ridge property in 1991, his followers there scattered to find other homes, Jody ended up at Alamo church operations in California.

There she was chosen by Alamo to work in the church office, where one of her duties was to look up scriptures to support the doctrines he dictates to followers— like his right, “as a prophet,” to take more than one wife.

Daring to debate scriptures with Tony and disagree with him eventually got Jody “divorced” from her pastor/husband, she says.

“There is nothing, she says, Alamo’s followers won’t do for him.”

“They’re giving their daughters to him, they’d even die for him,” the pretty young ex-Alamo “wife” told me. “At one time I would have, too. Since Susan (Alamo) died (in 1981), he can do anything he wants in the church. There doesn’t seem to be anyone or anything that can stop him.”

Times Record columnist Linda Seubold is a four-time recipient of the Distinguished Service to Journalism Award from, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

If you had told me several months before that I would become Tony’s wife I might have thought you were crazy. I had never heard of polygamy until 1993, the same year my daughter was born. Apparently, Tony had my husband and another man from the group doing research on polygamy for quite some time beforehand. I knew nothing of it; neither did most members of the church. He was saving it, as a special revelation from God, to share with the members.

When he brought the first message, and I received the tape, I asked my husband, “What’s next? Drugs and alcohol?” When my husband reported to Tony that I had said this, Tony called me to his house and subjected me to over three hours of reprogramming. The bottom line was that if I did not accept polygamy, I was a blasphemer.

I know what you might be thinking. “So what? Just leave!” Unfortunately, it was not that simple for me. I lived my entire life within the foundation and I knew no other life. As far as I knew, Tony was the Lord’s Anointed and I was but a simple sheep in rebellion to his will. To further complicate matters, I had no money of my own, no job, no job history, no high school diploma, and no way really to leave unless I wanted to leave my family and my entire support base. The idea was unthinkable to me. I submitted. I did not understand it, but I submitted to the Lord’s Will.

After a few months, in February of 1993, Tony began talking about “virgin brides”, wives he would take who would remain virgins unto the Lord. I thought, “Well, this isn’t as bad as I thought. At least it isn’t about sex.” I was relieved, actually. Though I was still disappointed to see that Tony had already married four wives, only two of those wives had conceived by him and I felt that the others must be virgins. Then, later, in a move that angered me, Tony kicked out his ex-stepson, Kenya Williams, and took Kenya’s wife, Misheal. Misheal was pregnant with Kenya’s son, but Tony said the child would be his. According to Tony, Kenya was not submitting to the Lord and therefore was “cut off” from the Lord. Forever. God had said “NEVER” and that was it. Their marriage was over, and Kenya was gone.

Fear rang in our hearts. People had been put out before and there were people who had come against the Foundation with accusations. We knew those people would never be let back in. But God had said “NEVER” and that had not happened before. God could say that about any of us if we didn’t watch out. In prayer, I submitted to God, even though I did not understand what was going on. I had always loved God, prayed to him, supported Tony even when things seemed mysterious to me. Now God was no longer on my side, only Tony’s and this put quite a bit of fear into me.

Unexpectedly, it was not me that God cut off, but my faithful husband, the one who had done the research on polygamy, covered Tony’s ass while he was in jail by conducting financial affairs and keeping the bills paid and so forth. My husband only ever meant well by Tony, and saw him as a father, a mentor, a guide, a pastor, and most of all ‘God’s Anointed.’ One day, my husband was flying high, managing the office affairs, running Tony’s errands, doing special projects, and sending Western Unions back and forth across the country to keep the affairs of the church running smoothly, and the next morning, I woke up to Tony screaming at him on the speakerphone and telling him to leave right now, God is through. No mercy. I stumbled half-awake over to where he was but Randy motioned for me to stay put. He grabbed a few things and went out the door, down the street on his feet, because we had no car, just walking. I had met him at the door briefly and he said “Don’t make it hard for us.” “I’ll get you back” I told him and tried to kiss him, but he brushed away and shut the door.

From the speakerphone in the other room I could hear him asking, “Is he gone? Good! Make sure that bastard is gone. God won’t bless this ministry with people like him around. Insolent bastard.”

I was absolutely stunned. Tony’s right hand man, just gone over some….what? an office mistake? A misunderstanding? God could not possibly be THIS irrational. But apparently he was.

For two weeks I continued on as assistant in Tony’s office, living there and breathing grief and missing my husband who had wandered the streets, until I finally stopped Tony in the middle of something one day and told him I wanted to see my husband. He later had someone help us rent an apartment. At this point we had one leg in the foundation (me) and another leg completely and totally anathema (my husband.) I suppose I really did not believe God had cut him off and that is why I continued to stay with him and try to get him back into the Foundation. I could not imagine living apart from God’s Will.

A few months passed like this, and I could sense uneasiness in the Pastor, but I refused to acknowledge it for fear of what it was and for fear of becoming cut off myself. Then, one day he said, “You cannot be unequally yoked with an unbeliever.” I died inside. That afternoon I went to my apartment packed all my things and left my husband. It was possibly the saddest moment in my life. I had spent those months praying, fasting, begging God, begging my husband to do whatever, anything, everything, confess to anything, any moment of doubt, but please just make God happy so this could all be over with.

Writing all this today I can think of a million things I should have done, but truly, at the time, there was nothing I could think of to do but to wait on the Lord and pray and hope in his mercy, which had begun to run out.

The night that I became Tony Alamo’s wife (October 15, 1993), I had gone to speak to him as my pastor, the only pastor I had ever known, which even now seems like a rational thing to do. I approached him one evening, as my pastor, to please ask God for another chance for Randy. I felt that God did not want my child to be without her father, nor me to be without my husband. What ensued were several hours of emotional and spiritual deception and coercion. Just when I thought I had made my point, Tony would reveal to me a new reason why I had to leave Randy, and not only rejoin his group, but stay close to him. I was becoming more and more confused. I had never known another man of God. Tony had been like God to me and I had always thought he was honest and meant well; and how many times had we read “Touch not mine Anointed and do my prophets no harm.” If I protested about anything he was to tell me about God’s will for my life that would be an accusation against him. I could not accuse a prophet of the Lord. I did not have it in me. These thoughts were pervading my conscience and still I asked him to allow my husband back into the fold. I was willing to risk the anger of God, because I felt I could prove that I was right and this was all a misunderstanding.

We went back and forth for six hours. There were several times that I thought he had not only heard me, but been convinced of what I was asserting. He was being very kind, understanding, offered me a drink of water, said I was intelligent and not at all the way he had thought I was.

All at once Tony took my hand and said I was to marry him. Then he asked me to be his wife. I was very confused. I had gone to tell him that I must stay with Randy and suddenly here I was about to marry him. I started to say no. I was suddenly terrified of God. God knew how to play terrific, horrible tricks. I felt like a little ant. So this is what it felt like to be in the presence of God’s anointed.

Questions that never finished, before more questions invaded, spiraled me into confusion.
Here I was, seventeen years old. In another room, his five wives had my child. I was alone. I had no car. No money. No telephone. NO OPTIONS.

Would I go to hell? Would he do something to me? If I ran out into the street right now screaming, would he have me committed? I was terrified, not of just him, and the person he was, but also of the person he represented to me as God’s Anointed. My baby was in the other room with Sharon Kroopf, Lydia Willis, Jody, Isabel Mendoza, and Misheal Jones-Williams, his five wives. I wanted to go and get her. If I left would God kill my baby? Would they have even given her back? They were after all praying for God to cause me to see the error of my ways and concede to being his wife. That way they would be blessed too. I felt angry and felt that I had been tricked into coming to his house that night. He knew what I wanted. He pretended that he would give it to me and instead presented a high stakes bargain: If I married him that was the only hope Randy would have of ever being let into heaven. God was a God who could kill me in an instant if I displeased him. Tony was the only one who had the power to save my husband from hell. Hesitantly, I prayed. Words, words, and more words went round and round in my head. Something tried to creep in, some inkling of truth, but I was not able to grasp it. I could not think. The Alamo Foundation had been my life. Every message I had heard was from Tony’s lips. My education was from Tony’s perspective, my worldview was Tony’s worldview, my voice was his voice, my thoughts were supposed to be as close to his thoughts as possible. All that I knew about God I had learned from Tony or someone who was close to him. I opened my eyes.

The fleeting particle of another option left and suddenly he made so much sense and I was the stupid one. He squeezed my hand and said, “You haven’t answered me.” in a tone that meant “God is displeased with you.” I knew then that there was no way out. I thought I would just say yes, then grab my baby and leave. I had no car, so I would have to walk in the dark streets. I had no telephone, and no money. I said “yes.” Immediately I felt remorseful. My love, my life. It had all vanished in a second. “He who finds his life shall lose it, and he who loses his life shall find it.” How many times had I heard that scripture? Now I finally knew what it meant. He squeezed my arm and said “Good girl.” I felt relieved, like I had bought some time from God and I started planning. I would go get my child, tell him I’d see him in the morning and never come back. He said some words that I don’t remember and kissed me on the head. I could not even lift up my head for the sadness of physically betraying my husband, but I was afraid. Afraid he might see it and God might be angry with me.

In my mind I cried out “No! I change my mind, you misunderstand me!” but I was mute with fear and confusion. This was a sacrifice, like the one Abraham had to give when he offered his son Isaac. At any moment God would descend, strike the knife from his hand, and I would be free. Then he asked me if I wanted to go in the “other room.” At first I thought he only meant the conference room, where my baby was. But he was expecting something, I could tell. He watched me closely. Then I knew. The other room was his bedroom. Fear shot through body and I told him that I did not. I was trying to figure out how to get out of it. What happened to the whole “virgin bride” thing? In that moment, I wanted to run away back home, back to my own sweet husband who would rather me never know of his love than to force himself on me. Patiently, Tony waited–five minutes. He asked me again, and again I said “no.” He stood up, took my hand and tugged me in that direction. From there on, I was in victim mode, a surveyor of my actions, non-participant in the decisions. Moments before, I had a plan. A simple plan but a workable one. That disintegrated when I realized that he very much meant for me to have sex with him, right then. I was smitten. I tried to act cool and change the subject. He pulled my arm in anticipation and took me in the other room.

My blood ran cold. My mind was still, but my heart raced faster than I knew it could. I don’t really remember what happened next but somewhere a voice, I don’t remember whose, told me that the marriage must be consummated. I thought “Well, not now. I have to nurse the baby first.” That was already taken care of. As if he read my mind, he smirked and signaled to Misheal and Sharon and they said “She’s asleep.” I felt a tinge of anger, but stayed with my hand on the back of a chair, while he cleared the bedroom and took me. My emotional consciousness watched, begging for mercy, as I entered the dark room, and he lay me on the bed. He asked me over and over what was wrong until I realized that I was shaking uncontrollably and sobbing. He said something like “Women get emotional about this.” I sucked it in, not wanting to be a woman, not wanting to give him anything I didn’t have to. I asked him what he was doing to me. The clock across the room had red glowing numbers—so fitting. Looking back I can only describe it as a heart that had once been mine had been stolen from me, cut from my person, and I was left to emotionally bleed to death on the bed. I thought I would vomit.

He kept saying, “the blood of Jesus is against you Satan” over and over again. My fear was that I was Satan and that Jesus’ blood would come and kill me as I lay there doubting every thing I had ever known, even doubting my human existence. Finally it was over. The cold breeze of the air conditioner went on. I turned over and cried silently. I missed my husband. The worst night of my life and he wasn’t there to hold me.

I was officially “broken in”, if you want to call it that. I was now desensitized and reprogrammed into being his “wife.” The next morning Tony told me never to think of Randy again. I was sitting in the corner of the room with a headache and sobbing again. Adultery wasn’t in me, just a desire to do God’s will. He said that God would cut me off if I thought of my husband. I was not even to speak his name. Tony spoke of Randy and his (Tony’s) triumph often and every time he did, my emotions were fractured into shards of grief and anger. This was the beginning of two and one half years of abuse, including psychological and emotional trauma, sleep deprivation, and numerous fasts, up to three weeks at a time. And always the quest to know “Are you thinking of him?” thrust upon me in unsuspecting moments. I was seventeen. My life, already, was pretty much over.

In 1993 and ’94 while I was living with Tony in his house, I witnessed 15yr, 16yr, 17yr, and 18 year olds living as Alamo’s “wives” going into his bedroom and it was common knowledge amongst ourselves that we were all having sexual relations with him. Lydia Willis was pregnant with Tony’s baby and delivered Tony’s son, Tabor, while I lived there. In December of 1993 he added Angel Streit to his harem and Jody left his house around the same time. In January 1994 he married Elizabeth “Lizzy” Gutierrez who had just turned 16 and Jeannette Orlando who was just 15 years old. Tony Alamo confided in me that he had spanked Isabel, one of his other “wives”. In late 1994 and 1995, from prison, Tony claimed to have received revelations from God to marry nine and ten year old girls and in the summer of 1994 he had 9 year old Eliza V, the first of these virgin brides visit him in prison in Memphis, Tennessee. Later, in 1995 he had Katrina and Darlene F., more of these young “virgin brides” visit him in the prison at Florence, CO. While there, the little girls would sit on his lap and he would talk dirty to them. Since he had us older ones (Sharon, Isabel, Angel, Jeannette O, Lizzy G) rub near his groin and he fondled our breasts and if possible other anatomy, I assumed he was doing these things to these younger girls also. We had an unspoken code to look away from him while he was “visiting” with another wife.

In January 1996 I was kicked out of his house under enormous pressure of not having completed a project (which was physically impossible to complete in the manner in which he requested.) He said God would kill his son, Sion, if I was to stay. Actually, I was relieved. I then went to stay with my parents in Arkansas who were with the regular part of the congregation. Tony called me and asked me to repent, and I refused. I had enough of being a battered wife. He had intended to maintain some control over me and when I would not fall for it he said I could not leave, but he would kick me out. Why did I leave? Not because America is a free country, because I had no idea what freedom looked like. I left because my child was turning three. My mother-heart was waking up to the realization that someday, my little girl would become a young woman, and I did not want this for her. In conversations, Tony had also described sexually perverted acts that he intended to do with us when he was released from prison, including beatings and orgies. I decided that I had had enough. I wanted to be a good mother, I wanted to live a good life. If God was mad at me, so be it. I had to move on. Later, after I left, Tony continued to harass me with letters of condemnation, threatening that I would get cancer and die or be killed in a car accident. He continued to remind me that I was damned to hell. It took years of counseling to end the nightmares and fears that had been instilled in me. Tony calls it the “fear of the Lord.” In reality it was fear of life, fear of making a mistake, fear of being alone, fear of being responsible to myself. He taught us fear, and it worked. That is how his cult continues to survive.

Tami

I, Cindi Jo, was born and raised in the Tony and Susan Alamo Christian Foundation. I am the oldest of four siblings. Knowing no other life, I thought my life was good. We had our own school, cafeteria, recreational center and, of course, church. As I got older things started to change. Tony’s wife, Susan had passed away and Tony remarried. I remember vividly playing on the playground and seeing Tony’s limo pull up. He got out with his expensive furs and diamonds. His wife decked out as well. Everybody stood around him as if he were God. That’s when things really started to change. Tony, shortly afterwards, remarried and then remarried again. He was going through one wife after another.

Things started to change for the worse. I lived in fear that if anything I did could possibly be misconstrued or twisted, there was the fear of being beaten.. It was a fear that became a reality so many times. When I look back now, I, as well as the other children, never deserved those beatings.

Shortly after the raid in 1991 the members of the church started to come back together. I was 14 years old at that time. Still brainwashed, I did whatever I was told to do. I looked up to Tony as if he was Gods right hand man. Tony was in hiding during this time but he still controlled the church through tape messages and his right hand men.

The girls my age were all being married off to older men in the church. I knew my time was near. Sure enough, I was married too. I never knew this man I married or anything about him except that it was supposedly of the Lord for me to marry him, and how dare I question that!?. I was fifteen years old. At eighteen I had two children and two miscarriages. Birth control wasn’t an option.

Meanwhile the church and Tony was just becoming more and more corrupt. Tony had become a polygamist (1993) and was marrying girls my age. During this time he was finally caught and sent to prison for tax fraud and other things (1994). Once again, he still ran and operated the church through phone and message tapes. His 9 wives, at the time, moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado to be close to the prison and would visit him almost daily.

During this time, I lived in Moffet ,Oklahoma. It was close to Fort Smith, Arkansas. We had a church in Fort Smith (Gloryland Christian Church), in which I worked. My husband (at the time) was sent to California on a construction job. I stayed with my two children in Moffet, Oklahoma (church property) and continued to work in the church office. After a few months, I and a couple of the other wives were given permission to move to California and live on church property there so we could be with our husbands, as the construction jobs kept coming.

The church property in which we stayed was hardly livable. There was no electricity, running water and the duplexes were infested with roaches, mice and rats. We had blow-up mattresses and blankets and cooked with propane stoves and brought water to wash dishes and bathe. It was unbelievable. The property had been vacant for years and this was where we were supposed to stay. Meanwhile all the money that our husbands made was being shipped directly to Tony’s wives in Colorado Springs.

It wasn’t too long afterwards that my husband was caught with pornography and had made a 900 call while he was still living in Moffet, Oklahoma that was subsequently tracked down to him. He was at that time kicked out or told to leave the church. He was dropped off at a mission in Van Nuys, Ca. I was told I could stay. A couple days later, I got a message from Tony that I could chose either to go back to Arkansas and live in Moffet or go to Colorado Springs with Tony’s wives. I chose to go back and live in Moffet. My message back was that God wanted me to go to Colorado. Having no choice I was flown along with my two children from LAX to Colorado Springs, Colorado where I was escorted to Tony’s house where all his wives lived. To my surprise, one of my sisters, Katrina, (only 11 years old ), was living there along with the other wives. Katrinna told me she was married to Tony.

That was the beginning to the end. After I got there Tony requested pictures of me. I thought that was really strange but I did as instructed and allowed pictures to be taken. Shortly after my arrival my daughter, Varina, only 9 months old, became very sick with pneumonia. She could barely breathe one night. I thought she was going to die. I rushed her to the hospital were she was hospitalized for several days. During my stay at the hospital I got a phone call from one of the wives. She told me that Tony had called and that the Lord told him that I was to be one of the wives. She said “one of us” as she was being discreet over the phone. The news was overwhelming. I told her that I would like to pray about this. I didn’t understand. I thought it was against God’s Word to marry sisters, as it causes confusion. When Tony heard my response he was furious. His message back to me was if I didn’t become one of the wives my daughter, Varina, would die. In my state of mind, (brainwashed) I believed him. I agreed to become one of the wives. Shortly after, I was sent a pass to the prison.

I’ll never forget how confused I was. In a blink I was one of the wives and now on my way to visit Tony in prison. On my first visit I sat next to him. The whole time he was getting an erection as he was being turned on by telling me all the things he was going to do to me when he got out. He said he would spend four straight nights with me. He also shared in graphic detail how it was with each wife on the first night. While at the prison, the wives would take turns sitting on the each side of him throughout the visit. I sat next to him the whole time on the first visit since I was the new wife. The other wives would watch the security cameras and when they would turn Tony would fondle the wife on the other side of him. He only rubbed my leg on the first visit but the other wives he fondled.

I had so many unanswered questions. Although I knew no other life, my gut feeling was that this was wrong. The home I stayed at in Colorado was gorgeous. The refrigerator and pantry was packed with food. We only had the best. I couldn’t help remembering how I lived before I became one of the wives. It really bothered me. It was so wrong!

My visits to the prison continued for the next five weeks. It was during this time I realized who Tony Alamo really was and just how sick, demented, perverted, and ungodly he really was.
Over the course of my visits, I did ask him to explain to me how it was okay to marry sisters along with many more questions. His answers were even more unbelievable. He told me that he was confused when he told my sister she was to be a wife and that the Lord really wanted it to be me. I asked him if it was okay in the eyes of God to marry children. His response was that as long as they were at the age of puberty, then it was fine. I was sickened.

During my visits to come, I only saw a very perverted man who would molest these young girls. He wasn’t the man of God I had believed he was. I was so confused and disappointed. The man that I thought was a man of God was some sick pervert who could care less about anyone but himself.

I started to become very ill. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I soon found out that I was pregnant. I was so upset. Here I am with my two children in some freaky house with a bunch of brainwashed women and now I find out I am pregnant! I didn’t know what to do. The thought of being Tony’s wife along with nine others and raising three children at only nineteen was overwhelming. I realized I could only do one thing and that was to take one day at a time.

The news of my pregnancy was told to Tony on one of his calls to the house. He didn’t say much. I continued to visit. During this time, Tony was writing tracts. The wives were forced to stay up all hours of the night looking up scriptures and assisting with the tract writing. It wasn’t getting done fast enough so we all were all put on a ten day fast. I asked Tony if I was supposed to fast too (as I was pregnant) and he said yes and that it wouldn’t hurt my baby. Unknown to me at that time, I was carrying twins.

I came to the conclusion that there was only one way out. One day I decided after arriving at the prison that I wasn’t going to go in. I told Sharon (one of the wives) that I refused to go in and to please give a note that I had written to Tony. In the note I explained that it wasn’t in my heart to be one of the wives and begged for Tony to let me go.

I thank God to this day that He answered my prayers. Tony let me go. I was flown back to Saugus, California with my two children. I asked Tony for money, as I had nowhere to go and had two babies and was pregnant. He gave me $ 500 and told me to keep my mouth shut about everything. I was dropped off at a mission in Hollywood where I tracked down my husband. I, shortly afterwards, miscarried one of my twins. I had no place to go, no idea of where or what to do with my life or how I was going to provide for my children. All I knew was that I would make it and that I was FREE from the clutches of Tony Alamo.

Well, needless to say, I made it and I have no regrets. I thank God everyday that he gave me the courage to say no.

Sincerely,
Cindi Jo