21 children removed from Alamo compounds

By The Associated Press

TEXARKANA — State officials on Tuesday seized 21 children associated with the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, taking them into protective custody because they were purportedly abused and neglected.

The children were taken into state care as hearings were being conducted on whether six girls seized in September should remain under state protection or be returned to their parents. Three boys seized Tuesday were taken from the courthouse, where they were with their parents for the other hearings.

Eighteen of the children were found in two vans that were stopped in traffic by state police in Miller County. Department of Human Services spokesman Julie Munsell said she didn't know what the children were doing in the van.

The children - all 17 or younger - were still being processed Tuesday afternoon.

An order by Circuit Judge Joe Griffin, which authorized the children to be seized, said there were allegations of neglect and physical abuse. Munsell would not detail the allegations.

State police spokesman Bill Sadler said numerous locations were searched as police and DHS officials looked for the children named in the order. Agents went to 14 homes in the Fort Smith area but found no children. Sadler didn't have details on the circumstances under which the vans were stopped.

Alamo was arrested in September, days after his compound in Fouke was raided by state and federal agents. The six girls, between ages 10 and 17, were seized for their own protection.

Federal officials charged Alamo with transporting minors across state lines for sex. Alamo has pleaded not guilty, and postings on his Web site, which decry the "diabolical government," also proclaim his innocence.

Alamo has preached that the Bible allows young girls to marry once they reach puberty but has said he didn't adopt the practice. However, witness testimony and assertions from prosecutors indicate otherwise.

Calls to Alamo's attorney, John Wesley Hall Jr., were not immediately returned Tuesday.

On Monday, a 14-year-old girl testified in Miller County Circuit Court that Alamo crept up on her in the shower, put his hand over her mouth and touched her inappropriately. The girl said he then threatened her, saying he would have his enforcer, identified as John Kolbeck, beat her.

At a bond hearing last month, prosecutors and witnesses described beatings by Kolbeck, 49, which often included attacks with a 3-foot-long wooden paddle.

Kolbeck is being sought by authorities.

The hearings this week are to determine whether the girls should be returned to their parents or be placed under continued care arranged by the state.

Alamo's trial is set for February. At the bond hearing, witnesses said Alamo had taken young girls for wives, and the 14-year-old girl made the same claim Monday.

The 14-year-old girl, who spent much of her time in Alamo's organization in Fort Smith, said Alamo coached her and others to say they weren't touched improperly or beaten, and Alamo recorded interviews with the girls to document the statements.

"Tony told us what he was going to ask us and what we were supposed to say," the girl testified.

She said that in Fouke, she lived for a time in Alamo's residence with a number of other young girls. She said she and others suffered gaps in their education because they were doing office work. The girl said Alamo had taken a number of girls as his wives.

"They all wear wedding rings. They go into his room at night and close the door. They're the only ones that do that," the girl said.

She listed eight names, including legally married Sharon Alamo, as being the "sisters in the house."

As did witnesses in last month's bond hearing, the girl told of being starved as a means of discipline. She said that when at age 13 she asked to leave Alamo's group, she was given a $40 bus ticket.

An 18-year-old male testified about being beaten on several occasions by Kolbeck and said he'd watched her sister being beaten.

Lawyers for the youths said more children should be removed from Alamo properties. A lawyer for the parents of one of the children said emphasis was improperly being placed on Alamo and that the hearing should focus on the relationship the children have with their parents.