7/08/09 – AP: Prosecutors refuse to name Alamo informants
Baxter Builletin
July 8, 2009
Associated Press
Prosecutors refuse to name Alamo informants
Prosecutors refused to name two confidential informants Tuesday who gave FBI agents information about jailed evangelist Tony Alamo, hinting they might be underage girls who allegedly were abused.
Prosecutors said in a court filing that two of the four people who offered information about Alamo will testify at his trial, set to begin Monday. The filing also claimed Alamo’s defense team failed to justify its request to get informants’ names.
Alamo, 74, has pleaded not guilty to a 10-count indictment accusing him of taking young girls across state lines for sex and remains jailed without bond. He has described informants as “backsliders” organized as part of a Vatican-led conspiracy to destroy his ministry.
The unnamed informants provided information that led to a Sept. 20 raid on Alamo’s Fouke compound by the FBI and Arkansas State Police. Alamo’s lawyers have asked a judge to order the informants’ name released and requested that evidence gathered during the raid be suppressed because it came from outdated information.
In their filing, prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes to carefully weigh any decision to disclose informants’ names because the case involved suspected sexual abuse of minors.
“This is the type of offense that involves not only physical and sexual abuse, but also involves significant emotional abuse,” the filing read. “The involvement of juveniles requires the court to be particularly cautious … as they are especially vulnerable and subject to intimidation.”
Prosecutors also argued naming the informants isn’t relevant to the charges Alamo faces.