LOS ANGELES : Alamo Wed Married Women, 15-Year-Olds, Prosecutor Says
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A Los Angeles hearing on child abuse charges was postponed Thursday for evangelist Tony Alamo, who remained in jail in Memphis, where a federal prosecutor accused him of marrying eight of his followers since 1993, including married women and 15-year-old girls.
Alamo, 59, was convicted by a Memphis federal court jury Wednesday on tax charges. The marriage accusations were made by federal prosecutor Christopher Belcher as an argument against allowing him to go free on bail.
Belcher said such offenses would fall under state laws against statutory rape in Tennessee and Arkansas, but state prosecutors have filed no such charges against Alamo.
Alamo’s conviction in the tax evasion case clears the way for him to return to Los Angeles to stand trial on charges that he ordered the beating of a young boy at his onetime Saugus commune. A hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court in that case was rescheduled for July 29.
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