Tony Alamo, a one-time street preacher who built a multimillion-dollar ministry, was convicted today of taking girls as young as 9 across state lines for sex, the Associated Press reports.
Alamo remained silent as the verdict was read.
His five victims sat looking forward in the gallery. One, a woman he "married" at age 8, wiped away a tear, the AP says.
In the trial, the five women, now age 17 to 33, told jurors that Alamo "married" them in private ceremonies while they were minors, sometimes giving them wedding rings. Each detailed trips beyond Arkansas’ borders for Alamo’s sexual gratification.
"I’m just another one of the prophets that went to jail for the Gospel," Alamo called to reporters afterward as he was escorted to a waiting U.S. marshal’s vehicle. The trial was held in Texarkana, Ark.
(Emphasis mine)
Yo, Tony? I realize I'm no evangelical preacher like you, so I may be ignorant about the Bible and shit like that, but what scripture of the Gospel commands that you rape eight and nine year olds?
Alamo faces a sentence of up to 175 years in prison. I suspect he's going to get all sorts of sexual education there. Let's hope.
UPDATE: Oh, I see. After visiting the Tony Alamo Ministries website, I've learned that Tony is actually innocent of these crimes. You see, the FBI made these women lie, because Tony has been criticizing the government for 45 years (you know, the government which was behind the JFK assassination and 9/11). As Tony writes: "Either you believe Pastor Alamo or the homosexual Pope."
Um… I'll go with the homosexual Pope, Alex.
Of course, he contradicts himself when he writes:
The legal age of marriage is puberty. Webster’s Dictionary states childhood is the “state or time of being a child; state or time from birth or infancy to puberty or maturity.” Webster’s definition of puberty is “the age when one becomes capable to bear children, which is marked by maturing of the reproductive organs, with the onset of menstruation in the female; the period at which sexual maturity is reached.” The Bible says this as well.
God’s Word, the Bible, never condemns a man for having more than one wife!
Ew, I need a shower.