TEXARKANA - A Miller County judge awarded more than half a billion dollars in damages to seven former members of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries this week.
Six of the women were taken by Alamo as “spiritual wives” when they were children. All seven were physically and sexually abused by Alamo, who is serving a 175-year federal prison sentence for taking five of the women across state lines for sex when they were children.
Circuit Judge Kirk Johnson entered a default judgment Monday totaling $525 million against Twenty First Century Holiness Tabernacle Church, an arm of Alamo Ministries. Twenty First failed to respond to a civil lawsuit filed by the women in Miller County state court.
Twenty First’s silence allowed attorneys David Carter of Texarkana and Neil Smith of Irving, Texas, to seek the default judgment and damages award. The personal-injury judgment is the largest in the history of Miller County and the state of Arkansas, Carter said.
As exhibits at a hearing on the default judgment Monday in a third-floor courtroom of the Miller County Courthouse in downtown Texarkana, Carter introduced psychological reports detailing the abuse and its effect on the seven plaintiffs. Carter also introduced correspondence discovered during a search of ministry properties in Fouke, near Texarkana, that alleges that water rights on property Alamo holds in Santa Clarita, Calif., are worth several billion dollars.
“We’re suggesting damages equal to a third of the value of those properties in California,” Carter said.
A March 5, 2008, email from an Alamo loyalist to the ministry office states that the water could be sold commercially to the city or county of Los Angeles for big profits.
“We will register the judgment in California and begin proceedings to have properties in that state sold to satisfy the judgment,” Carter said. “This judgment sends a powerful message to those who facilitate or enable the sexual and physical abuse of children: You will be held accountable in a court of law.”
Johnson said his judgment reflects the court’s desire to compensate Alamo’s victims.
“The depraved, reprehensible acts of Tony Alamo and others boggle the mind,” Johnson said. “It is shocking that people could treat fellow human beings in this manner.”
Johnson awarded millions in actual and punitive damages to each of the seven women named as plaintiffs in the civil suit.
Desiree Kolbek, Amy Eddy, Jeanette Orlando and Summer Hagan - four of the five women listed as victims in Alamo’s criminal case in federal court - each received $29 million in actual damages and $58 million in punitive damages.
Nicole Farr, who escaped from Alamo’s house at age 15 while being groomed to be a wife, received $10 million in actual damages and $20 million in punitive damages.
Jamie Rodriguez, who was an Alamo wife from age 13-16 and was listed as a victim in his criminal case, received $22 million in actual damages and $44 million in punitive damages.
Pebbles Rodriguez, who left Alamo after his criminal conviction, received $27 million in actual damages and $54 million in punitive damages.
Rodriguez was taken as a wife by Alamo as a teen.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 02/28/2014