Alamo: 'I'm going to testify' in sex crimes trial

By The Associated Press

TEXARKANA — Evangelist Tony Alamo walked into court Tuesday and told reporters he planned to take the stand in his sex-crime trial, even though his lawyers have advised against it.

"I'm going to testify. I've already won. They've got nothing," the 74-year-old Alamo said.

Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday after playing for jurors recordings of jailhouse telephone calls the preacher made since his arrest on charges that he took underage girls across state lines for sex.

In the recording, Alamo told a girl who questioned one of his orders that he was "still in charge" of his Arkansas religious compound even from a Texas jail cell

Special Section: Tony Alamo

• Counts against Alamo
• Video interviews with children from ministry
• Alamo indictment (PDF)
• Alamo affidavit (PDF)
• Transcript of interview with girl, 14
• Transcript of interview with girl, 17
• Transcript of interview with girl, 10
• Transcript of interview with girl, 11

Prosecutors allege that a domineering Alamo took five underage girls across state lines for sex between 1994 and 2005. Defense lawyers say the government targeted Alamo for prosecution because it is anti-Christian. Alamo, who has pleaded not guilty, has also said the Vatican is behind his troubles.

Alamo told the girl, who is not among those he is accused of abusing, to "shut up" when she began to question him, according to the recordings made in Texarkana, Texas, after a raid on his southern Arkansas headquarters.

"Just because I'm in jail, you'll find out that I'm still in charge. OK, kid? You understand?" Alamo said in the recording.

Earlier in the tape, he threatened to kick the girl out of the community if she didn't obey.

"You either have to do what you're supposed to do or get out," Alamo said. When she began to protest, he interrupted her by saying, "Shut up. Shut your face. Clean up your stinking mess."

Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday after four days of graphic testimony in which five women said they were "married" to Alamo as teens or preteens and were sexually assaulted by him. They said they traveled to other states for sex with him or responded to his call and returned to Arkansas and had sex with him.

As the defense began presenting its case, Alamo's common-law wife, Sharon Alamo, said his trips with the girls were for legitimate church purposes. Under cross-examination, she said she couldn't explain a handful of wedding rings found in Alamo's bedroom.

"Didn't you notice the girls moving into the defendant's residence ... were getting younger and younger?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Fowlkes asked.

"No, I didn't," Sharon Alamo replied.

Later, she said her romantic relationship with Alamo was "over" but wouldn't elaborate.

"My relationship with him is between myself and God and Tony," she said. "I know you want me to label it but I just can't do that."

Alamo has said the girls, part of his estimated 100-200 followers, were traveling to help spread the ministry's teachings. His apocalyptic tracts outline his hatred of the Vatican and his feared "one-world government" as well as his belief in flying saucers.

In other tapes played for jurors, Alamo asked a female follower if she was aware of what he did behind closed doors. On another, he makes light of the charges against him.

"Why the hell would I take her across Texas state lines? If I did it in Arkansas, would that be bad?" he asks as women and girls on the other end of the line giggle.

Defense lawyer Phillip Kuhn said Alamo's team planned to call as many as 10 witnesses. Whether that will include Alamo remains to be seen, Kuhn said.

"If he gets on the witness stand, it will be against my advice," Kuhn said Monday.