A controversial American evangelist "married" under-age girls as young as eight before forcing them into sex, a court has heard
his compound in south-western Arkansas in September last year. Photo: AP
Tony Alamo, 74, who at one time turned his ministry into a multi-million dollar business, has denied taking young girls across state lines for sex at his trial in Texarkana, Arkansas.
On Wednesday, one of his former wives told the court that the preacher had so many partners that he scheduled how often he would have sex with each of them.
The 30-year-old woman, who married Alamo when she was 15, said she began to have doubts about him when she was an adult after he graphically described sexually abusing an eight-year-old holding a stuffed animal.
She told the court that Alamo said she should not question what "the Lord told me to do".
The woman, a third generation follower of a movement that some have dubbed a cult, said "Papa Tony" segregated children at his religious compound by gender to prevent what he called "hanky-panky".
The children were not allowed to attend normal schools but were instead sent to classes approved by Alamo, who exercised a similarly rigid control of the adults in his flock, the court heard.
Alamo was jailed for four years in 1994 for tax evasion. The authorities raided his compound in south-western Arkansas in September last year.
If convicted, he faces 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.
Alamo, who was born Bernie Hoffman of Jewish parents, set up the Alamo Christian Foundation with his late wife, Susan, in Hollywood in 1969.
They built it into a very profitable organisation that included its own syndicated television show and even a line of "Tony Alamo" brand sequinned denim jackets.
Alamo's teachings include the imminence of Armageddon and the collusion of the Pope and the US government in a Satanic conspiracy that was responsible for Pearl Harbor, the 9/11 attacks and the assassination of John F Kennedy.
Alamo claims the current trial is part of this Vatican-led conspiracy against him.
The trial continues.
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