A member Tony Alamo Christian Ministries has been sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty in August of sexually abusing an underage girl.
According to a statement from the office of U.S. Attorney Connor Eldridge, Douglas James Christopher, 60, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Fort Smith. The sentence comes without the possibility of parole.
Christopher, who previously lived at an Alamo compound in Muldrow, Okla., would often take the girl, whose mother he married in 2000, across the state line to Fort Smith to engage in sexual activity. The abuse occurred from 2003-2008, according to the news release.
A short time after the final encounter with Christopher, the girl and her siblings were taken into protective custody while Alamo and his ministry were under investigation.
Alamo’s main ministry compound in Fouke was raided in 2008 by federal law enforcement.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more details.