9/22/08 – KARK: Alamo Speaks Out
Arkansas Matters
September 22, 2008
by: Lauren Trager, KARK 4 News
Interview source here
Two days after state and federal investigators raided the Tony Alamo ministries compound in Fouke Arkansas—-the evangelist is speaking out about the allegations against him.
After several attempts, KARK received a call from Mr. Alamo today from the Los Angeles area in California. in regards to the 6 girls, confirmed by the Department of Human Services today as between the ages of 10 and 17 years old that were removed from the compound on Saturday, he says they are have been taught to distrust the government and to expect that something like this might happen. He’s confident investigators will not find anything they are looking for from them.
DHS is currently working to determine parental rights for each girl-a difficult task because some parent’s weren’t present during the raid and because the group lives so communally.
Officials will then evaluate the girls on an individual basis to determine their health and educational needs. An internal email released to the media stated they couldn’t be placed into group homes because they had not been vaccinated. The work is slow, as officials try to build up trust and allow the children to become comfortable—-to determine just what happens on that compound.
But Alamo denies that any of the allegations against him are true. He has this to say about child pornography and child brides.
“If they can find it, I’ll eat the whole federal building, any child porno,” he said in a phone interview.
“The Bible says its okay if they’ve reached puberty. When they’re at puberty, they’re able to have children. But most girls in the US aren’t capable of being married. They’re seeking jobs, they aren’t qualified to be married and do the duty of a wife.”
Mr. Alamo says neither he nor anyone in the compound is married to an underage girl though—-on polygamy, he says the bible allows it and he wouldn’t tell me, if he did practice it. as for an arrest—investigators say they cannot disclose when an warrant may be issued on these charges.