The U.S. government wants to take possession of properties on which imprisoned evangelist Tony Alamo and other Alamo followers physically and sexually abused children.

In documents filed this week, the government seeks forfeiture of properties in Texarkana, Ark., Fouke, Ark., and Fort Smith, Ark. Among the properties sought for seizure are Alamo’s Fouke, Ark., residence; Tony Alamo Christian Ministries Church building in Fouke; a gymnasium building on Alamo’s Fouke compound; a residence in Fouke, Ark., known as the “House of Scorn”; a Fort Smith residence where Alamo once lived and sexually abused children; a house in Texarkana, Ark., where one of Alamo’s child brides was forced to fast for seven days; and a Fort Smith mechanics shop where one of Alamo’s followers allegedly molested a step-daughter repeatedly.

Four of the complaints for forfeiture are filed in the Texarkana division of the Western District of Arkansas and two are filed in the Fort Smith division.

An affidavit of FBI Special Agent Tim Akins attached to the forfeiture documents includes descriptions of the abuses suffered by children on each of the properties sought for seizure. Not only does the affidavit chronicle Alamo’s well documented sexual and physical abuse of women he wed as children, but public beatings and the alleged poisoning of “disobedient” children with “corn cockles,” in a dosage Alamo had perfected.

The mixture was sprinkled onto the child’s food and would cause flu-like symptoms.

“The children would be told the sickness was due to the child’s disobedience,” the affidavit states.

That information is attributed to an Alamo follower who is accused of sexually abusing a step-daughter. The name of the accused is redacted from Akins’ affidavit however Douglas Christopher is currently facing charges of bringing a minor across state lines for sex in the Fort Smith division concerning his step-daughter.

Akins’ affidavit alleges that Alamo continues to run businesses and operations of his controversial group by sending orders through a group of his wives who have moved to a house near the federal prison in Marion, Illinois, where Alamo is serving a 175-year federal prison term for bringing women he wed as children across state lines for sex.

Alamo was moved to the Marion prison from one in Tucson, Ariz., after authorities learned Alamo was making threatening comments regarding federal judges, prosecutors and others key to the criminal and civil cases, Akins’ affidavit states.

“Alamo operates his churches and businesses from USP-Marion. Alamo operates a trucking company, restaurant, construction company, apartment complex, and a company known as Advantage Foods while still in prison,” the affidavit states. “Nothing happens at these entities without Alamo’s approval.”

Akins’ affidavit describes Alamo’s practice of placing properties in the names of his followers using “straw borrowers” as “arguably…a form of bank fraud…”

Alamo would utilize the good credit score of one member to acquire a loan for property actually paid for with ministry funds from a bookkeeper account. The properties are placed in the name of one or more loyal followers but quitclaim deeds, allowing transfer of ownership, are signed and kept in the ministry’s office. If a follower listed as an owner falls from grace, the deed is dated and filed, transferring title to a member in good standing.

Recently a federal judge in Texarkana granted a writ of execution for six properties in Fort Smith. The writ permits the sale of the properties to partially satisfy a $30 million judgment owed by Alamo in a civil suit filed by Texarkana lawyer David Carter on behalf of two men, Spencer Ondrisek and Seth Calagna.

Since then, John Rogers, a Clayton, Missouri, lawyer, filed notices of joint ownership of the properties on behalf of roughly 30 followers. The followers claim the properties are owned by the members of Alamo’s group, not just by the members listed as actual owners on the properties.

Carter argued and U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant agreed, that the properties are actually held for the profit and benefit of Alamo.

A hearing to address the members’ claim to the six properties in the writ is scheduled for later this month. Numerous notices and documents sent to the followers Rogers filed claims to the properties on behalf of have been returned to the court as undeliverable. Bryant signed an order this week stating that any party who fails to appear at the hearing may have their claims dismissed.

Earlier this week and before the government filed its forfeiture documents, Carter filed a second motion for a writ of execution listing even more Alamo-associated properties, including those the government seeks to seize.

Considering the number of properties, parties and cases involved, the real estate matters are likely to take the courts some time to resolve.

Tony Alamo Properties In Fort Smith Sought For Restitution

Two men with a $30 million judgment against Tony Alamo and federal prosecutors are both seeking Fort Smith properties owned by the evangelist, who is serving a 175-year prison sentence.

Seth Calagna and Spencer Ondrisek won the judgment in a federal lawsuit in June 2011 when a jury found Alamo ordered them beaten while they were children and members of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries.

In July 2009, a federal jury in Texarkana, Ark., found Alamo guilty on 10 counts of transporting minor females in interstate commerce for the purpose of criminal sexual activity. In November 2009, Alamo was sentenced to 175 years in prison and is at a U.S. penitentiary in Marion, Ill.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s office filed motion in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith and Texarkana, seeking the seizure of six Alamo properties, including two in Fort Smith — a home at 1405 Meadow Lane and a “mechanics shop” at 503 Division.

In an affidavit accompanying the motion, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Timmy Akins detailed how the properties were used to facilitate the sexual abuse of the girls Alamo was convicted of transporting across state lines for sexual activity.

If federal authorities are allowed to take ownership, the money from the sale of those properties would go toward $2.5 million in restitution — $500,000 for each victim — U.S. District Court Judge Harry Barnes ordered following Alamo’s 2009 conviction.

Also Tuesday, attorneys for Calagna and Ondrisek filed papers in U.S. District Court in Texarkana, seeking the same properties. In February, they filed papers seeking six additional properties, including an apartment complex, warehouse and lots with “metal structure and playground” next to the apartment complex, which are also in Fort Smith.

The men are seeking to sell the properties to satisfy the $30 million judgment.

Texarkana attorney William Carter and Irving, Texas, attorney Neil Smith also represent the victims in the 2009 criminal case against Alamo — and two women who weren’t parties to the criminal trial — in a civil lawsuit against Alamo scheduled to go to trial in January 2014.

“We will work with them (Carter and Smith) moving forward,” said U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge.

Carter said he and Smith will work with prosecutors to the extent they can, but their primary responsibility is representing Calagna and Ondrisek in collecting their existing civil judgment.

A hearing on Calagna and Ondrisek’s seizure request is scheduled for May 30 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry A. Bryant in Texarkana. No hearing is scheduled yet on the federal prosecutor’s request.

Spencer Ondrisek and Seth Calagna won the judgment in a lawsuit claiming that Alamo, now 78, ordered them to be beaten and forced them to fast while they were children and members of the ministry.

In a court filing in February, they asked a judge to order the seizure of six Fort Smith properties, including five buildings and a parking lot, to satisfy the judgment.

On Tuesday, the men asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant to order the seizure of a dozen additional properties, including Alamo’s house and the church building in Fouke.

The properties listed in Tuesday’s request also include three other houses and a gym at the Fouke complex, a house in Texarkana and a warehouse, house, truck shop, apartment complex and playground in Fort Smith.

Six of the properties – Alamo’s house, two of the other Fouke houses, and the Texarkana and Fort Smith houses – are also being sought by federal prosecutors in separate cases.

In court filings, also on Tuesday, prosecutors said Alamo used the six properties to facilitate the sexual abuse of five young girls, whom he was convicted of taking across state lines for sex.

Alamo was sentenced to 175 years in prison in the case in 2009. He was also fined $250,000 and ordered to pay $500,000 in restitution to each of his accusers, who said Alamo took them to be his “wives” at young ages.

W. David Carter of Texarkana, Texas, an attorney for Calagna and Ondrisek, said Wednesday that he would likely confer with prosecutors about their request.

“I suspect everyone’s goal in the end is to see that Alamo’s victims are compensated,” he said. “To the extent there is overlap between our different actions, I believe we will cooperate with the government and resolve any inconsistencies.”

A hearing on Calagna and Ondrisek’s February request for the seizure of six Fort Smith properties is set for May 30.

Western District of Arkansas U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge and Alamo’s attorney, John Rogers of Clayton, Mo., didn’t return calls seeking comment Wednesday.

Judge asked to seize buildings. All 6 sites have ties to evangelist Alamo’s abuse case

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday asked a judge to order the seizure of six buildings that they say evangelist Tony Alamo used to facilitate the sexual abuse of young girls.

Alamo, 78, was was convicted in 2009 of taking five underage girls across state lines for sex in violation of the federal Mann Act and was sentenced to 175 years in prison. He was also fined $250,000 and ordered to pay $500,000 in restitution to each of his accusers, who said Alamo took them to be his “wives” at young ages.

In filings Tuesday in federal court in Fort Smith and Texarkana, prosecutors asked a judge to order the seizure of Alamo’s house at the church complex in Fouke, where they said Alamo forced his accusers to have sex with him.

Other buildings sought by prosecutors include a church gym, where church members were beaten with a board as punishment for misbehavior, and a house at the Fouke complex known as the “house of scorn,” where girls were forced to fast.

In Fort Smith, prosecutors are seeking the seizure of a house on Meadow Lane and a building on Division Street known as the “mechanic’s shop.”

According to an FBI agent’s affidavit filed with prosecutors’ request to seize the buildings, one of Alamo’s accusers in the criminal case told authorities that Alamo repeatedly forced her to have sex in the Meadow Lane house in 1994, when she was 15.

Another former church member told authorities that her stepfather, a ministry member, forced her to have sex with him in the mechanic’s shop, the affidavit says.

Prosecutors are also seeking the seizure of a house on Locust Avenue in Texarkana where the FBI agent said one of Alamo’s accusers told authorities she was forced to fast for a week.

A call late Tuesday to Conner Eldridge, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, wasn’t returned. Alamo’s attorney, John Rogers of Clayton, Mo., also didn’t return a call seeking comment.

The request by prosecutors comes as attorneys for two former ministry members are seeking the seizure of five other ministry buildings and a parking lot in Fort Smith to satisfy a $30 million judgment in a lawsuit against Alamo.

Spencer Ondrisek and Seth Calagna said in the lawsuit that Alamo ordered them to be beaten and to fast while they were children and members of the ministry.

A hearing of the request by Ondrisek and Calagna is set for May 30 in U.S. District Court in Texarkana.

Alamo follower faces abuse charges

A former Tony Alamo follower is facing federal charges accusing him of committing child sexual abuse while he was still a member of the imprisoned evangelist’s controversial group.

Douglas James Christopher, 59, is charged in a five-count indictment unsealed last month in the Fort Smith division of the Western District of Arkansas federal court.

The alleged victim is the daughter of a woman with whom Christopher lived as husband and wife while a member of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries.

The indictment accuses Christopher of taking the girl from Oklahoma to Arkansas with the intent of engaging in sexual activity, which constitutes rape under Arkansas law, in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The transport of a minor across state lines for sex is a violation of federal law.

Children with whom Christopher had been living as father were seized by child welfare officials in Indiana in December 2008.

The children were among more than 100 listed on removal orders permitting child welfare authorities in Arkansas to take children deemed at risk because of their parents’ affiliations with Tony Alamo.

Before the removal orders could be executed on communal ministry properties in Fouke, Ark., and Fort Smith in November 2008, many of the parents fled with the children.

Christopher was among them, according to records.

The removal orders for all the children came a couple of months after the FBI and Arkansas State Police raided Alamo’s Fouke compound.

Six girls were taken by child welfare officials during the raid.

Alamo was arrested on federal child sex abuse charges within the week.

When child welfare officials in Indiana took a look at Christopher, an old warrant connected to a Tony Alamo child abuse case in California surfaced.

Christopher helped hold down 12-year-old Justin Miller as he was publicly beaten before an assembly of Alamo loyalists in 1988 on ministry properties near the Saugus community of Santa Clarita, Calif., according to court documents.

Christopher, also known as Matthew Allen Rehn, received three years’ probation and a 164-day jail sentence for the child abuse charge, according to an interview with a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in July 2009.

In August 2011, officials in Porter County, Ind., charged Christopher there with child molestation. As of presstime Wednesday, the Porter County Prosecutor’s Office had not responded to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Gazette concerning disposition of those charges.

Christopher was arrested March 15 in the Northern District of Indiana and appeared before a federal judge there the same day. The Indiana federal judge gave orders for Christopher to be transferred to Arkansas for prosecution.

Christopher appeared before U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes in Fort Smith for arraignment April 22. The accused entered a not guilty plea with the help of a federal public defender. Holmes scheduled Christopher’s case for a jury trial next month.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyra Jenner is handling Christopher’s case for the government.

Jenner was the lead attorney in the criminal case, which ended with a 175-year federal prison term for Tony Alamo in 2009. Alamo was found guilty by a jury in the Texarkana division of the Western District of Arkansas of bringing five women he wed as children across state lines for sex.

Alamo’s stepdaughter: She’s owed $500,000 from 1995 judgment

Original award stems from case involving location of mother’s body

Imprisoned evangelist Tony Alamo’s stepdaughter has filed notice that she has an interest in properties a federal judge has ruled can be sold to partially satisfy a $30 million judgment.

Christhiaon Coie filed notice Friday of prior claim in Spencer Ondrisek’s and Seth Calagna’s case.

Coie is the late Susan Alamo’s daughter from a prior marriage.

The judgment by a federal jury in a civil suit against Tony Alamo awarded Ondrisek and Calagna compensation for battery, outrage and conspiracy. The $30 million judgment remains unpaid.

Last month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant issued an order permitting sale of six properties in Fort Smith associated with Alamo.

Coie was awarded a $100,000 judgment against Tony Alamo in Crawford County in 1995.

She filed suit after her mother’s body was disinterred from a heart-shaped mausoleum on Alamo Ministries property in Crawford County. Susan Alamo’s body was removed in advance of the mausoleum and property being seized by federal authorities as recompense for unpaid taxes and an unpaid judgment in another federal suit involving the public beating of a 12-year-old boy on ministry property in 1988 in California.

Alamo was sentenced to a six-year term in federal prison for tax evasion in 1994.

It is unknown where Susan Alamo’s body was for seven years after it was removed from the mausoleum in 1991.

Susan Alamo died in 1982.

In the days following her death, loyal Alamo followers reportedly prayed nonstop around her lifeless body in hopes that their pleas to God would bring her back to life.

Crawford County Chancery Judge Jim Spears’ 1995 order included a $100,000 judgment against Tony Alamo in favor of Coie and an order that Alamo be held in the Crawford County jail upon his release from federal prison until Susan Alamo’s remains were produced.

Spears found Tony Alamo guilty of outrage.

“Once a body has been entombed, no one, not even a surviving spouse, may disinter or remove the corpse except as provided by law. No permit was obtained, nor order of the court sought for this purpose,” Spears wrote in his 1995 order.

He noted that Tony Alamo directed the removal of Susan Alamo’s body.

Spears wrote that Tony Alamo owed Coie a “sacred trust” in regard to her mother’s remains.

“She is owed the courtesy of information concerning her mother’s body,” Spears wrote. “A denial of this is outrageous conduct that any person knows would cause much grief and anguish to a child.”

Spears ordered that Tony Alamo begin serving an indeterminate term in the Crawford County jail for his civil contempt.

“The civil contempt differs from his criminal prosecution in that Mr. Alamo holds the key to the jailhouse in his possession,” Spears’ order states.

In 1998, Alamo loyalists delivered Susan Alamo’s body in a sealed casket to a funeral home in Van Buren, Ark. Dental records were used to determine the corpse was in fact Susan Alamo.

Now, Coie is asserting an interest in four of the six Fort Smith properties Bryant ruled could be sold to partially satisfy the $30 million judgment for Ondrisek and Calagna.

In documents filed on Coie’s behalf in Sebastian County,Ark., in 2009, Coie asserts an interest in other properties associated with Alamo, as well. The 2009 filing states that interest accumulated since the 1995 award brought the total at that time to more than $500,000.

Coie is not the only person who has filed notice of interest in the six Fort Smith properties.

Last week, Alamo’s lawyer, John Rogers of Clayton, Mo., filed claims of joint ownership on behalf of 24 ministry members.

On Monday, Clayton [Rogers] filed notice of joint ownership on behalf of nine other members. Notices of actual ownership were filed by Rogers last week on behalf of three members whose names are listed on property records for several of the properties.

At a hearing April 2, Clayton [Rogers] argued that the properties are actually owned by all members of the ministry jointly.

Bryant rejected Clayton’s [Roger's] argument, citing Arkansas law that does not allow property ownership by an unincorporated group of people.

Bryant’s order states that Alamo controlled the properties and made decisions concerning them without input from anyone else in the group.

Texarkana lawyer David Carter, who filed suit on behalf of Ondrisek and Calagna, and Irving, Texas, lawyer Neil Smith, describe the group’s practice of shuffling property ownership regularly among members as a quitclaim scheme.

“Most of the claims filed thus far are made by ‘members’ of Tony Alamo’s ‘ministry,’” Carter said in an email. “It is a continuation of the shell game directed by Alamo and implemented by his followers. We look forward to the hearing, at which these folks can explain the stacks of undated and backdated deeds they used to pass ‘title’ to these properties amongst themselves like hot potatoes.”

Bryant has scheduled a hearing for later this month to address the ownership claims.

Alamo is serving a 175-year federal prison sentence for bringing women he wed as children and lived with polygamously across state lines for sex.

Stepdaughter of convicted evangelist asserts claim to properties in lawsuit by abused youths

TEXARKANA, Arkansas — A stepdaughter of imprisoned evangelist Tony Alamo has filed a claim for $500,000 that she says he owes her, further complicating the efforts of attorneys for two young men who were abused in Alamo’s ministry as children to enforce a $30 million judgment they were awarded.

Christhiaon Coie filed court papers Friday seeking to enforce an award from 1995 in Crawford County, which is tied to Alamo’s removal of her mother’s body from a mausoleum prior to its seizure to settle a tax nonpayment judgment and a separate civil judgment in an abuse case. Coie was a daughter of Susan Alamo by a prior marriage.

Alamo, 78, is in a federal prison in Marion, Illinois, serving a 175-year sentence for transporting young girls across state lines for sex.

The Texarkana Gazette reports (http://is.gd/p0puXF ) that Coie won a $100,000 judgment against her stepfather in Crawford County in 1995. She claims in her court filing that, with interest, she should be paid $500,000.

A judge ordered the seizure of a number of businesses that were run by Tony Alamo Christian Ministries so the judgment awarded the two young men could be paid.

Ownership of the businesses is being settled.

Alamo’s lawyer, John Rogers of Clayton, Missouri, filed claims last week stating the businesses are jointly owned by 24 members of Alamo’s ministry. That claim was rejected on grounds that ownership of businesses by unincorporated entities isn’t allowed under Arkansas law. There are also individuals within the ministry listed as owners.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant last month issued an order to clear the way for sale of six properties in Fort Smith that are associated with Alamo. A hearing is scheduled later this month on some ownership claims.

Texarkana lawyer David Carter, who represents the two young men, says the ministry members have shuffled property ownership.

“Most of the claims filed thus far are made by ‘members’ of Tony Alamo’s ‘ministry,’” Carter said in an email to the newspaper. “It is a continuation of the shell game directed by Alamo and implemented by his followers. We look forward to the hearing, at which these folks can explain the stacks of undated and backdated deeds they used to pass ‘title’ to these properties amongst themselves like hot potatoes.”

Susan Alamo died in 1982. A group of loyalists to Alamo delivered her body to a Van Buren funeral home in 1998, under order by authorities to return the corpse.

Information from: Texarkana Gazette, http://www.texarkanagazette.com

Alamo stepdaughter makes claim on property in suit

A stepdaughter of imprisoned evangelist Tony Alamo says she has a $500,000 claim against properties that are part of a $30 million judgment won by ministry members who claim they were abused.

Christhiaon Coie is the daughter from a previous marriage of Alamo’s late wife Susan Alamo. Coie filed court papers Friday asserting the claim in a judgment in favor of two young men who were beaten and otherwise abused when they were juveniles in Alamo’s ministry.

The Texarkana Gazette reports ( ) that Cole won a $100,000 judgment against her stepfather in Crawford County in 1995. She sued after Alamo removed her mother’s body before her mausoleum could be seized to settle judgments involving unpaid taxes and another civil abuse claim.

Cole claims interest swells her judgment to $500,000.

Alamo followers claim ownership of property

Loyal followers filed claims of joint ownership of six properties a federal judge has ordered can be sold to partially satisfy a $30 million judgment imprisoned evangelist Tony Alamo owes to two former members.

Three other members, who are listed property owners, have filed notices of legal ownership for some of the real estate.

“Most of the claims filed thus far are made by ‘members’ of Tony Alamo’s ‘ministry,’” Texarkana lawyer David Carter said in an email. “It is a continuation of the shell game directed by Alamo and implemented by his followers. We look forward to the hearing, at which these folks can explain the stacks of undated and backdated deeds they used to pass ‘title’ to these properties amongst themselves like hot potatoes.”

Last month U.S. District Judge Barry Bryant granted Carter and Irving, Texas, lawyer Neil Smith permission to sell six properties associated with Alamo. The order came in a civil case filed by Carter on behalf of Spencer Ondrisek and Seth Calagna, two men raised in the controversial group.

Carter and Smith described Alamo’s practice of putting properties in the names of followers as a quitclaim scheme designed to shield Alamo from being held financially accountable for his misdeeds.

When a property is placed in the name of a follower, that person signs a quitclaim deed which is kept in the group’s office. If the member falls from Alamo’s favor, the deed is backdated and notarized, and ownership of the property is transferred to a follower in good standing.

A jury found Alamo guilty of battery, outrage and conspiracy and awarded the two men actual and punitive damages. The original $66 million award was reduced by an appellate court to $30 million. Ondrisek and Calagna have not collected any of the $15 million each has coming.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined last month to consider Alamo’s complaints about the large judgment coincidentally on the same day Bryant issued his order to sell six Fort Smith, Ark., properties: the church building, a gym building, a warehouse, a restaurant parking lot, a restaurant and a residential house.

Alamo’s lawyer, John Clayton of Missouri, argued at a hearing April 2 that the properties are actually owned by all members of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, not just those listed as actual owners.

Bryant rejected Clayton’s argument, citing Arkansas law that does not allow property ownership by an unincorporated group of people. Bryant’s order states that Alamo controlled the properties and made decisions without input from anyone else in the group.

Despite that, Clayton filed claims of joint ownership of the six properties on behalf of 24 followers. Claims of legal ownership were filed on behalf of Donn Wolf, Ben Edwards and Thomas Scarcello by Clayton. Wolf’s name appears on property records for the Fort Smith church building, Edwards’ name appears on property records for the gym building, and Scarcello’s name appears on records for the warehouse.

Bryant has scheduled a hearing for later this month to address the members’ claims.

Alamo is currently serving a 175-year federal prison sentence for bringing women he wed as children and lived with polygamously across state lines for sex.

Judge: Six Alamo properties can be sold to help satisfy judgment

A federal judge ruled Monday six properties associated with imprisoned evangelist Tony Alamo can be sold to partially satisfy a $30 million judgment owed to two former members of Alamo’s controversial ministry.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant found the real estate sought has been under the complete control of Tony Alamo.

“He chose the name Tony Alamo Christian Ministries and made the decision to change the name of the church on Windsor Drive from Gloryland Christian Church to TACM. … He made decisions regarding the operations of the church without any input from other members,” Bryant’s order states. “He also made the decisions to actually purchase property.”

A jury found Alamo guilty of battery, conspiracy and outrage at the end of a jury trial in a lawsuit filed by Texarkana lawyer David Carter on behalf of Spencer Ondrisek and Seth Calagna. Alamo owes each man $15 million in compensatory and punitive damages for the abuses they suffered as children raised in Alamo Ministries.

Alamo is serving a 175-year federal sentence assessed him by a jury in a 2009 criminal trial for bringing women he wed as children across state lines for sex.

Carter and Irving, Texas, lawyer Neil Smith argued earlier at a hearing this month that the properties they seek to sell were held in the names of Alamo loyalists, including Steve Johnson, as part of a scheme to avoid such judgments by Alamo. Johnson is listed as an owner on all six of the properties Carter and Neil seek to liquidate as partial recompense for Alamo’s debt to Ondrisek and Calagna.

Typically, the names of one or two followers are placed on a deed. At the same time, the members listed sign blank quitclaim deeds kept in the Alamo Ministries office.

If a property-owning member falls from Alamo’s grace, the quit-claim deed is backdated and filed, transfering ownership to a member in good standing.

“The complex and fraudulent scheme designed to insulate Alamo from judgments is unraveling,” Carter said. “We know who participated in the scheme and will continue make sure it is completely exposed.”

In excerpts from depositions of Johnson discussed at a hearing April 2, Johnson claims no ownership of the properties and claims they belong either to Alamo or Alamo Ministries.

Alamo’s lawyer, John Rogers of Clayton, Mo., argued at the hearing the properties actually belong to the ministry, not Johnson or Alamo.

“Plaintiffs argue Tony Alamo Christian Ministries is merely a fiction,” Bryant’s order states. “Defendant (Tony Alamo) argues this property is being held for TACM or the individual members of TACM.”

Bryant’s order points out an unincorporated entity, such as Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, cannot own property under Arkansas law.

Bryant’s order directs Carter and Smith to coordinate with the U.S. Marshals Office and file a proposed order for the sale of the properties within 10 days.

“We will move swiftly to coordinate with the U.S. Marshals Office to have the properties sold,” Carter said.

The six Fort Smith, Ark., properties sought in the writ include the church building, a gym building, a warehouse, a restaurant parking lot, a restaurant and a residential house. Smith and Carter are only seeking to take Johnson’s interest in the properties at this point in the litigation.