7/12/09 – AP: Tony Alamo’s Trial on Child-Sex Charges Starts Monday
KATV
July 12, 2009
The Associated Press
Evangelist’s Trial on Child-Sex Charges Starts Monday
Evangelist Tony Alamo (uh-LAW-moh) goes on trial in federal court at Texarkana Monday. Alamo faces charges accusing him of taking young girls across state lines for sex in violation of a nearly century-old morality law called the Mann Act.
He previously pleaded not guilty, denying the charges while at the same time saying the Bible described the age of consent as when young girls first reach puberty.
A guilty verdict on one charge from the 10-count indictment could place Alamo behind bars for the rest of his life.
A federal judge sentenced him to six years in prison in 1994 for tax evasion, making him a candidate for harsher sentence. But Alamo previously beat a federal criminal indictment in 1991, something the flamboyant evangelist will hope to do again.