This time, it’s in Texarkana, Ark…
URGENT
Evangelist compound raided in sex investigation
By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press Writer

FOUKE, Ark. (AP) — FBI agents and state police raided an evangelists’ headquarters Saturday as part of a child pornography investigation and planned to remove several children from the complex run by a man previously accused of child abuse.
The raid at the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries south of Texarkana started an hour before sunset. Armed guards regularly patrol the ministry headquarters but no shots were heard as agents moved in.
“I have not heard of any shots fired. I have not heard of any resistence,” state police spokesman Bill Sadler said.
U.S. Attorney Bob Balfe said before the raid that agents had a search warrant and that he expected an arrest warrant would be issued later for Alamo. An FBI evidence response team arrived at the scene shortly after the raid began. An SUV with a trailer attached backed up to the ministry building’s front door. FBI vehicles blocked off a dead-end road.
A Fouke School District bus also arrived and pulled up near 12 unmarked vans, SUVs and sedans parked alongside the low-slung ministry headquarters along U.S. 71 just inside the Fouke city limits.
It wasn’t known whether Alamo was present.
Sadler said the search would be conducted at the compound headquarters and also at Alamo’s home nearby.
A helicopter circled overhead after the raid began and onlookers stopped along the two-lane highway to watch the goings-on.
Alamo’s church is in a single-story building similar in design to a strip mall. A white cross is erected atop the structure, with a small steeple to the right side.
Alamo once was accused in California of directing the beating of a church member’s 11-year-old son. In 1994, he was sentenced to six years in prison on tax evasion charges filed in Memphis, tenn.
The judge in the tax case ordered him held pending sentencing after prosecutors argued that the evangelist was a flight risk and a polygamist who preyed on married women and girls in his congregation. U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla said he was concerned over “the very great control Mr. Alamo has over a number of people.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 20th, 2008 at 5:38 pm and is filed under Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.