7/10/09 – TG: Man(Douglas Christopher) pleads NO CONTEST in old Alamo child-abuse case
Texarkana Gazette
July 10, 2009
By: Lynn LaRowe
Man pleads no contest in old Alamo child-abuse case
A man with long-standing ties to Tony Alamo Christian Ministries pleaded no contest Thursday in a California courtroom to 20-year old child-abuse charges, according to a spokesman with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Douglas Christopher, also known as Allen Matthew Rehn, received three years probation and 164 days in jail for his role in the beating of 12-year-old Justin Miller in 1988 on ministry properties near the Saugus community of Santa Clarita, Calif., said spokesman Sandy Givens.
“It was part of an arranged plea,” Givens said.
Christopher, 55, was given credit for the 164 days he has already spent in jail and was given permission by Judge Robert Schuit to live in Indiana.
Several of Christopher’s children were seized by child welfare officials in Indiana in December. While conducting a home study to determine if the children could be returned, the old warrant surfaced.
Officials told Christopher they couldn’t consider giving the kids back without the case being resolved.
Christopher helped hold Justin as he was publicly beaten with a wooden paddle, according to reports. Alamo allegedly directed the beatings via speakerphone from a nearby bungalow.
A federal judge in the Western District of Arkansas awarded Justin and his family more than $1 million in a civil lawsuit several years after the beating.
Givens said warrants for two other men, Kerry Warren Young and Terry Robert Farr, remain active.
Charges against Alamo were dropped when he was sentenced to federal prison for tax evasion.