Tony Alamo Arrested

In Flagstaff Arizona, Tony Alamo was arrested on charges related to a child porn investigation, according to CNN. We discussed him last week when his Utah compound was raided. Perhaps the arrest comes as a result of information gathered in the raid.

Alamo was charged under a federal statute with having knowingly transported a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity...

I really don't see how evidence supporting that could have come from the raid. At this point, I don't feel very convinced that the government has a good case against him. Perhaps it'll turn out like the Warren Jeffs story, and more and more information will reveal Alamo to be a true predator, but so far, I don't see it.

I believe what's often lost in cases like this, is the founding principle that he's innocent until proven guilty. I don't understand how people are so quick to condemn someone at the first mention of child sex abuse, when we have so much evidence lately that the government oversteps its bounds whenever it wants to. The FBI and law enforcement people have been known to fabricate charges, exaggerate facts and railroad people. I'm waiting for more facts to be revealed.

At the site called Cranium Creek there isn't much more than copied and pasted sections of the CNN stories, but by the title of the post, "Another Preacher Gone Wrong," you can get the author's opinion. The commenter pulls no punches.

On the Maybe It's Just Me blog, there's a post with a witty title, "Someone did Lay Hands on Tony Alamo" There's the cryptic line, "Well, I guess God heard my cry."

What's your opinion? Is it too early to write old Tony off? Apparently, he's a big Catholic basher, describing himself as the "completed Jew." Some might want to credit him for that.

Arkansas Evangelist's Compound Raided for Sex Abuse

CNN reports on the raid conducted in Fouke Arkansas. The compound near Texarkana, owned by Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, was invaded by 100 agents of the Arkansas State Police, who were met with no resistance.

"It's a hoax," Alamo said. "They're just trying to make our church look evil ... by saying I'm a pornographer. Saying that I rape little children. ... I love children. I don't abuse them. Never have. Never will."

It's clear the government doesn't like this guy. Whether they have enough reason is a good question. On the site Bible Belt Blogger, I found some background. It seems Rev. Alamo has had some brushes with the law, but the implications that he is involved in child abuse seem thinner than those of the infamous Warren Jeffs.

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.”

I wonder if the biggest concern isn't that last comment: “the very great control Mr. Alamo has over a number of people.”

What do you think?

UPDATE

CNN reports that six compound children have been removed.

Warren Jeffs, Polygamist and Sex Offender

Warren Jeffs is back in the news. Jeffs is the former Prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Last month he was convicted of child sex abuse for arranging marriages between underage girls and older men. His own child bride has been put in foster care.

A 14-year-old girl allegedly married to jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs with her parents' blessing at age 12 was ordered back into foster care Tuesday by a Texas judge.

I posted about this before here and here.

I'm still somewhat ambivalent about this case. On the one hand, government intervention in the lives of citizens concerns me. I want to give people the benefit of the doubt whenever possible. These folks claim to be living their lives according to their understanding of what's right and wrong. Their religious and cultural beliefs allow for arranged marriages with very young girls, not unlike many societies throughout history.

On the other hand, we're living in the 21st century. Treating adolescent girls as nothing more than breeding machines and assigning them to middle-aged men as rewards, which I'm guessing is the way it works, is shabby behaviour to say the least. I think the tendency to be lustful, which many men deal with, would run riot in a society like that. Perhaps this has always been the case throughout history in any culture where these attitudes prevailed. Today there are laws against polygamy and having relations with underage girls.

UPDATE

Top story today is there are more indictments coming.