Bernard was born in 1934 and took a bus to Hollywood before graduating high school. This is so perverse.. Donations made to the CALS Foundation are tax-deductible for United States federal income tax purposes. He was working as a music promoter. Alamos attorneys kept the issue before the courts from 1985 to 1992, arguing that church-owned enterprises were exempt from federal income taxes because they were churches in disguise. Even in his later years, when the feds were pursuing him for charges ranging from embezzlement to child abusethe man calling himself Tony Alamo didnt try to hide. He's a convicted tax evader and a flamboyant evangelist who once ran what authorities called a multimillion-dollar, Saugus-based cult. Preacher Tony Alamo Told to Return Wife's Remains. The IRS Commissioner found that "MSC was so closely operated and controlled by and for the benefit of Tony Alamo that it enjoyed no substantive independent existence; that MSC was formed and operated by Tony Alamo for the principal purpose of willfully attempting to defeat or evade federal income tax; and that MSC was inseparable from Tony Alamo, and failed to operate for exclusively charitable purposes. Alamo formed the cult way back in 1969 with his wife Susan when he was a flamboyant preacher on the streets of Hollywood. [11], Seventeen days before her 57th birthday, Susan Alamo died of breast cancer on 8 April 1982 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the City of Faith hospital. I made sure he was properly dressed. Now Tony Alamo is also a grave robberat least in the eyes of an Arkansas judge, who has ordered him to lay to rest his wifes missing 13-year-old corpse. Susan focused on recruiting and preaching. You are here: Home | Preacher Tony Alamo Told to Return Wifes Remains. [17][18][19][1][2], In June 2013, the federal government filed forfeiture and collection actions in federal court on 27 properties which were owned by members of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, in an attempt to collect $2.5 million in restitution that Alamo was ordered to pay to his victims. He accused me of having an ungodly statue of a man and a woman. Click on the link above to open the article, Fashion designer claims he wont sign legal papers even though he married another woman. Ill get my children back, said Nick Amrhein of Huntington, West VA. Little Rock, AR. Buchanan, Susy. He called the new entity Music Square Church and filed for tax-exempt status. Nicky, 12, and Amanda, 10, but apparently she violated conditions placed on her by the court. Pebbles was 12. Picture taken in 1993. Amrhein called the Press Argus Courier this week after cult awareness groups sent him clippings that have appeared in this newspaper. Between 1986 and 1990, the preacher remarried twice. 1986-03-06 Press Argus Courier Alamos second wife says theyre not divorced I was terrified that if I didnt do what I was supposed to do when he told me to do it no matter what it was Im going to hell, Amy tells PEOPLE, recalling her childhood in the cult. While they live states apart Pebbles, a stay-at-home mom who is in the process of getting a divorce, is in the Phoenix area with her two young sons; and Amy is studying to get into college in Oklahoma City, where she is also raising two boys with her boyfriend they are forever linked and speak with each other daily. They scooped up runaways and drug users off the streets of Hollywood, giving them food, shelter and fundamentalist religion tinged with anti-Catholic and anti-government messages. The case of the boys went before U.S. District Judge Morris Arnold, who ruled that child abuse had taken place and awarded damages to the plaintiffs. Among the businesses which Alamo started was decorating denim jackets and airbrushing them with bright, colorful designs. This newspaper traced the advertising agency promoting the association to the Alamo of Nashville clothing store. Tony Alamo kept Mrs. Marston's phone and utilities in her name. The child on the right is Lizzy and Alamos daughter, Antoinette. Elizabeth Mercado Unofficial wife of Tony Alamo. [16], Tony Alamo was arrested numerous times, beginning with an illegal weapons possession charge in 1966 for which he served time before he married Edith Opal Horn,[15][11] and culminating in his 2009 conviction on ten counts of transporting minors as young as 9 years old across state lines for sex. In 1982, his wife Susan Alamo (ne Edith Opal Horn) died of cancer. Both Tony and Susan were impressive on the stage: he with eye-catching outfits and musical ability, she with fiery sermons and deep faith. She had just turned 16 years old. Last week the children were taken away from her in New Orleans when authorities suspected she was trying to leave the country. Then the couple flew to Vegas, where they went through two more marriage ceremonies. Shown here pregnant with Alamos son, Tabor. A chancery court judge ordered Alamo to return the body in 1995 in response to a suit filed by Christhiaon Coie, Susan Alamos estranged daughter. The Alamo Christian Foundation was an American cult founded in 1969 by Christian evangelist Tony Alamo and one of his wives, Susan Alamo. History: In California in February 1993 Tony Alamo took Lydia , an African American, as a second wife. Alamo says he married Amrhein in December. She later claimed her husband beat and drugged her and demanded she undergo plastic surgery to make her look like Susan. He claimed that the governments actions against him were merely the machinations of Satan, and his followers continued to attract controversy for distributing his printed literature across the United States and beyond. All Rights Reserved. The show was awarded the Fringe's Encore Producer Award. Says Randall Harris, a retired FBI agent who investigated the case: The world revolved around Tony Alamo.. Lydia and Tabor are no longer in associated with the group or Tony Alamo. The full weight of the crimes hed committed was finally coming to light, and in 2014, a judge from Miller County, Arkansas, ruled in a case brought by seven ex-cult members. The Alamos were multi-millionaires by the time Susan died, although their followers were often forced to scrounge through dumpsters for food, according to The Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Some days are easier than others.. Divorce wasnt quite as scandalous in Hollywood, where Tony met Susan met in the mid-1960s. But after his wife died in 1982, Alamo's behavior grew deviant and he began preaching the purported righteousness of polygamy and underage brides.In the mid-1990s, Alamo, then 62 years old . History: In 1993 Angela Marie Morales (aka Angel Streit) became a wife in Arkansas at age 20. On September 25, 2008, Alamo himself was arrested in Flagstaff, Arizona, on a federal warrant charging him with violating the Mann Act, a federal statute enacted to stop the trafficking of women or girls across state lines, over a period from March 1994 through October 2005. He was ambitious, but few facts about his early life are verifiable as Tony tended to self-aggrandize. Theyre messed up children, Amrhein said. Sensing that a panicky Alamo might move the body, Coie had obtained a restraining order, taped to the tomb, that forbade anyone from disturbing it. Alamo responded by declaring bankruptcy, and his businesses imploded, although Alamo Ministries limped along. The flashy evangelist did business in the backwoods of western Arkansas, but when the law caught up with him, he was living in Tampa, Florida, where he ran a restaurant and regularly broadcast religious talk shows. Ill tell you how bad a shape theyre in. The grounds included a school, a printshop, a tabernacle and a workshop for producing clothing and garments. Chancery Judge Bernice Kizer ruled Monday that the foundations local business must pay back sales taxes. For Tony to say he beat out Julio as an entertainer of the year is completely crazy. Gyllenhammar was referring to Alamos claim that the American D.J. The CALS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. Tony began a concerted effort to avoid reporting his income. In 1975, the Alamos purchased land in Dyer, near Alma, and there established the main branch of the Music Square Church, which later was called the Holy Alamo Christian Church Consecrated before its present name was adopted. In 2007, the Southern Poverty Law Center listed the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries as a hate group, citing its anti-Catholic literature and rhetoric. Saying he appreciated the articles about Alamo, Amrhein insisted, Ill keep the kids. The imprisoned Evangelist preacher Tony Alamo, who sexually abused young girls he considered to be his wives, has died after serving more than seven years of a 175-year prison sentence, authorities said. Alamo to Return Body of Wife after 7 Years. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,July 24, 1998, pp. History: In Arkansas in January 1994, Elizabeth Mercado (aka Lizzy Gutierrez) became Tonys wife. Honor or memorial gifts are an everlasting way to pay tribute to someone who has touched your life. Below are several (but not all) of Tony Alamos alleged wives. Davis, Andy. Coie, a 45-year-old singer, said last week she had not expected a monetary award but sued to preserve some semblance of her mothers dignity. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. ET) on Investigation Discovery. The feds had narrowed in Tony fought Coie for custody of Susans remains. Sharon Alamo seen leaving courthouse after Tony Alamo was found guilty of 10 counts of taking underage girls across state lines for sex 2009. Upon his release, the ex-felon returned home: back to his now humbler Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. Witnesses at his trial described being taken as child brides, with some as young as 9 years old. Anyone can use it regardless of ability, approach, or level of acceptance by recognized authorities in the field. The Daughters Tale: Anti-Catholic Cult Leaders Child Recounts Abuse. Intelligence Report, Spring 2008. When Amrhein was arrested last week in New Orleans for trying to leave the country, her marriage license was reportedly not certified. He's a convicted tax evader and a flamboyant evangelist who once ran what authorities called a multimillion-dollar, Saugus-based cult. Nickys birthday is on January 4, and he was staying with me for a few days before then. I was at a party not long ago with Julio Iglesias and Elizabeth Taylor. You know, what gets me about this is [my mother] made him a multimillionaire many times over, Coie said. Twice married and with a daughter, she came to Hollywood and attempted to become an actress. He remained in prison until his death in May 2017 . The ministry has buildings in Moffett and Muldrow. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Susan Alamo died in April 1982. 2833. Authorities said the body was removed from its quiet hilltop the same night that dozens of Alamo followers fled the Dyer compound. Pre-European Exploration, Prehistory through 1540, European Exploration and Settlement, 1541 through 1802, Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood, 1803 through 1860, Civil War through Reconstruction, 1861 through 1874, Post-Reconstruction through the Gilded Age, 1875 through 1900, Early Twentieth Century, 1901 through 1940, World War II through the Faubus Era, 1941 through 1967, Divergent Prosperity and the Arc of Reform, 19682022, https://www.villagevoice.com/2008/05/13/the-barely-legal-empire-of-tony-alamo/, Divergent Prosperity and the Arc of Reform (19682022). They say they were planning a honeymoon cruise for later, Amrhein said. And when she was 17, he took her virginity after making her one of the three "wives" he had at the time. As the government painstakingly made its case for tax evasion, Tony was fighting legal battles on multiple fronts. Widely regarded as a cult, Tony Alamo Christian Ministries was at the center of a number of lawsuits and government actions, and its leader was jailed on a variety of charges, including income tax evasion, the theft of his late wifes body, and taking underage girls across state lines for sex. Our website includes affiliate links, which means we get a small commission -- at no additional cost to you -- for each qualifying purpose. In the 1980s, Alamo, a self-proclaimed prophet of God, had thousands of devoted followers in the United States, including the parents of Jeanne, Amy, Desiree and Nikki. After years of legal troubles during which he was accused of engaging in abusive behavior against his followers, Alamo was convicted of ten child rape offenses in 2009. He became unhinged and, convinced he could raise her from the dead, kept her embalmed body on display for six months with members of his church praying around it. In six months, when she didnt rise from the dead, Tony finally buried her. After a decade of building the church, Susan and Tony moved everyone to Dyer, Arkansas, just outside Fort Smith near the Oklahoma border. Original Design by Gurpartap Singh, Eye Witness & First Hand Accounts of Abuse. Lydia was in her early 30's. They have a son, Tabor, together. Tony also faced charges relating to his late wifes body. Larowe, Lynn. The various publications his ministry offered, such as The Vatican Moscow Washington Alliance, detailed his conspiracy theories. Born Bernie Hoffman, the boy from Missouri wasnt an average preacher. All Rights Reserved. She and her son are mistreated more than the others and are both referred to as "nigger" by Alamo. They complained of long shifts, and some revealed the organization required absolute loyalty. The two immediately clicked, having much in common from midwestern, Jewish roots to a talent for showmanship and within months, Susan converted Bernie/Mark to hard-core Protestantism. Years after his wife's death, Tony began taking child brides, as young as 8 years old, and in 2009, he was sentenced to 175 years in prison for transporting young girls across state lines for sex. When Tony got back into the business in 1999, he immediately went on the air. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. History: In 1993 Misheal Eden Jones-Williams became Tonys wife at 18 years old. [8] Converting from Judaism to Christianity, she became an itinerant evangelist before she met Hoffman. 25-Apr-1925, m. 1966, d. 8-Apr-1982 cancer) Wife: Birgetta Oyllenhammer (m . If you can, provide 1-2 sources of information backing up this correction. Franke, Eric W. A Brief History of the Alamo Christian Foundation. New England Institute of Religious Research. 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