Cindi Jo – Forced by Tony Alamo to agree to be his “wife”
To Whom It May Concern;
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