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10/27/09: TG: Alamo defense asks for mercy, cites convicted child abuser’s ‘good works’ ***COMMENTS***

Texarkana Gazette
October 27, 2009
By: Lynn LaRowe

Alamo defense asks for mercy, cites evangelist’s ‘good works’

A brief submitted Friday by Tony Alamo’s defense team asks the federal judge who will sentence him for child sex abuse to have mercy because of his waning health, age and history of good works around the world.

The 75-year-old Alamo, whose given name is Bernie LaZar Hoffman, was convicted July 24 of all 10 counts of a federal indictment accusing him of bringing young girls across state lines for sex. He faces up to 175 years at sentencing.

“Throughout his fourty-four years of ministry, he has exhibited an almost super-human dedication to the true cause of Christ. He has preached an honest Biblical message, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, counseled the sick and dying, all without concern for himself and at considerable pain, persecution and cost. Surely his past acts of charity, truth and kindness count for something,” the brief states.

“Through him, thousands of people now enjoy the promise of eternity.”

The brief speaks of water towers built in African villages and drug users freed from addiction because of Alamo. It references a generator purchased for the City of Fouke, Ark., where Alamo Ministries has an outpost and donations to the Arkansas Sheriff’s Youth Ranch.

Also mentioned are the thousands of “Christian tracts” mailed around the globe and slipped by witnessing followers beneath windshield wiper blades with regularity.

Some of Alamo’s past tracts assert the Vatican controls the federal government and the media while others have espoused the virtues of polygamy.

The brief claims the U.S. Marshals Service has allowed Alamo to anguish physically by failing to address his health problems while he’s in a jail in downtown Texarkana.

“A month before his trial, the defendant suffered from extreme constipation and dehydration. He experienced unbearable back pain and passed out in his cell. He began to suffer hallucinations,” the brief states.

“The history of the defendant’s poor medical care while he has been incarcerated awaiting trial and the authorities’ indifference to a medically recommended diet and eye care gives credence to the fact the Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshals Service either cannot or will not adequately meet the medical needs of the defendant.”

Attached as exhibits to the brief are a multitude of letters supporting Alamo’s character and calling for his release.

Some accuse the five Jane Does, who gave graphic testimony during Alamo’s trial about the physical and sexual abuse they suffered as wives of Alamo, of lying.

Others are reportedly written by followers who are presumed to be in hiding with their children and one bears the name of Alamo’s own 9-year-old daughter.

Alamo’s child’s name is among those listed on removal orders signed by Arkansas judges in November 2008.

“This memorandum is not intended to depreciate the seriousness of the crimes for which the defendant was convicted,” the brief states.

“The defendant’s past life, his work in the church and the numerous acts of both compassion and charity should be given great weight by the court. The defendant respectfully moves this honorable court to impose a sentence of incarceration, if necessary, far below the recommended guideline level … in determining the appropriate sentence on November 13, 2009.”

In: 2009 - (Trial year)

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4 Posts

  1. Hannah Says:

    Well, folks. Perhaps we are getting a rare preview of Alamo’s strategy on judgment day. You would think he knew the scripture below…I don’t think this court will be any more lenient then God will be.

    Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

  2. Jane Says:

    He deserves far worse that lack of medical attention!Speaking of hallucinations…..I came down with strep throat as a child growing up in Alamo’s cult and never received medical attention and it turned in to scarlet fever where my hand and feet peeled until they were raw and had to be wrapped. My fever was so high at one point I did have a hallucination. Now as a mother I realize how horrible it must have been for my parents who had to get permission from Pastor Alamo to take me to be treated by a physician! This has been a very small example of Alamo’s compassion. He will rot in prison and then in hell for eternity and still I’m not satisfied.

  3. Sue B Says:

    Tony Alamo showed NO mercy when he ordered the bloody beating of foundation children. He had them suspended in mid-air and beaten with a board while they cried for mercy. Tony Alamo did NOT show any mercy. The girls he raped cried for mercy – he raped them repeatedly while using the Bible as a weapon against them. No mercy for Tony Alamo. The evil he did to the foundation children outweighs any of the “good” deeds he is trying to proclaim he did. It was our money and our labors that paid for everything. Tony Alamo wants to take the credit for all our hard work.

  4. Rez Says:

    Sympathy for this devil??!! Um, given his tract record of abuse, rape, tax-evasion, stealing mattresses from Katrina victims amongst other devious ventures…I don’t think so!!!!

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