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Archives > Volume 7 Issue 43 - July 29, 2009 Alamo guilty on all counts...Tony Alamo, a one-time street preacher who built a multimillion-dollar ministry and became an outfitter of the stars, was convicted Friday of taking girls as young as 9 across state lines for sex. AP news story here 
Alamo stood silently as the verdict was read, a contrast to his occasional mutterings during testimony. His five victims sat looking forward in the gallery. One, a woman he "married" at age 8, wiped away a tear.
"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. Shouts of "Bye, bye, Bernie" - Alamo was born Bernie Lazar Hoffman - came from a crowd gathered on the Arkansas side of the courthouse. Some came from Fouke, the nearby town where Alamo's 15-acre compound sits. Others were former followers of his ministries in Arkansas, California and New York. The jury of nine men and three women took about 11 hours to consider the charges against Alamo. The 10-count federal indictment accused him of taking his underage "wives" across state lines as early as 1994. Of all the horrid accusations against evangelist Tony Alamo - and the list is long - it was the testimony of formerly loyal subjects, recounting "marriages" between their cult leader and girls as young as 8, that may end his 40-year rule and send him to prison for life. More from AP here The 74-year-old Alamo faces up to 175 years behind bars following his conviction Friday on 10 counts of transporting young girls across state lines for sexual purposes. Some jurors wept while women described being molested by and forced into sex with their decades-older pastor. See more on this story at vol6_iss78, vol7_iss41, and vol7_iss42. In other news... 
With four Phoenix, Arizona, boys ages 9 to 14 charged with sexual assault on an 8-year-old girl, a prosecutor vowed his office will "seek justice for the young victim in this heartrending situation." CNN News story here "This is a deeply disturbing case that has gripped our community," said Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. According to Phoenix police, the girl was lured to a storage shed at an apartment complex on July 16. The four boys, who had offered the girl chewing gum, allegedly restrained and sexually assaulted her. The 14-year-old was charged as an adult and will face two counts of sexual assault and one count of kidnapping, Thomas said. The other three boys were charged in juvenile court with sexual assault, and two of them also were charged with kidnapping, Thomas said. All the suspects except for the 14-year-old live in the same apartment complex, according to Phoenix police Sergeant Andy Hill. The victim and the boys charged are all from refugee families that have come to the United States from the war-torn West African nation of Liberia, police said. Meanwhile, the girls father, who had reportedly shunned the girl after the assault, must wait at least three months before possibly regaining custody of the girl. AP News story here The father, who is not being named to protect the girl's identity, met with Child Protective Services on Monday. The girl was taken into state custody after officials said they heard the victim's parents blame her and didn't want her anymore. But the father denied Monday that he ever blamed her or said that his daughter brought shame to the family.
Otty Sanchez, a schizophrenic with a history of hospitalizations, refused to take medication for her postpartum depression, her son's father said. She'd been going to regular counseling and had been briefly hospitalized since the boy was born. AP story here But the 33-year-old woman's troubles only became apparent to authorities when they found her before dawn Sunday, in a house where she had access to samurai swords, screaming that she had killed her baby. Her 3 1/2-week-old son was dismembered in a scene so gruesome police were left shaken. "Maybe we missed" warning signs, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said. "I don't know." Sanchez was released Tuesday from a hospital where she was treated for self-inflicted cuts to her torso and an attempt to slice her own throat. The former home health care worker, charged with capital murder, is being held at Bexar County Jail on $1 million bond. Calls to relatives were not immediately returned and it was not clear whether Sanchez had an attorney. Authorities said Sanchez attempted suicide after butchering her newborn son, Scott Wesley Buchholz-Sanchez, with a steak knife and two swords while her sister and two nieces, ages 5 and 7, slept in another room. Sanchez told police that the devil made her kill, mutilate and eat parts of her only child.
To the list of items that can be easily located with an iPhone (pizza joints, coffee shops, nearby friends), here's one addition that might surprise you: sex offenders. ABC News story here Launched by ThinAir Wireless, a GPS-tracking and wireless monitoring company, the Offender Locator iPhone application lets users view registered sex offenders living in their area. The app comes in free and paid versions, but after nearly two months in the App store, the 99-cent application is among the ten best-selling paid apps. Amid the games and entertainment applications, Offender Locator has grabbed the sixth spot on the list. Each state maintains a registry of sex offenders who are required to disclose their addresses. But each state also varies in terms of the laws surrounding the prosecution and tracking of sex offenders. And, even the state databases (from which Offender Locator draws its information) are not always up to date and entirely accurate. A link to the national sex offender registry is available online at www.childprotectionprogram.org.
Homeless advocates and county officials intend to move a group of registered sex offenders living under a bridge to private housing this week amid growing criticism - and lawsuits - over the county's ordinance that they must live at least 2,500 feet from places where children gather. AP news story here But some offenders are reluctant to move, saying that being told where to live, and with whom, is similar to the prison terms they have already served. There are about 70 registered offenders living in tents or makeshift huts near a busy bridge that connects Miami to Miami Beach. In the past three years, it's become a shantytown of men on probation who struggle to find affordable housing that doesn't violate Miami-Dade County's strict ordinances against sex offenders living too close to schools, parks and other places frequented by children. The bulk of the felons living under the bridge - and in tents lining the side of the causeway, in full view of tourists headed to the beach - are on state probation. Department of Corrections officers have been unable to find suitable housing for them in part because of affordability and the local ordinances, and the men have been ordered to live at the bridge so they don't run afoul of the law. This week, however, the chairman of the county's Homeless Trust said the group will move eight offenders off the property and into an apartment. It's unclear how far the apartment is from the bridge - officials won't say - but several men there said that a location in Homestead, some 35 miles south, was under consideration.
Relatives of Virginia Tech victims are asking the state to reopen its investigation of the 2007 mass shootings at the school. Fox News story here A group including parents of many of the 32 people killed by student gunman Seung-Hui Cho issued a statement calling on Governor Tim Kaine to reopen a state panel's review. The group also includes people hurt in the shooting. The statement follows disclosure last week that the former director of the university's counseling center found missing mental health records for Cho at his home. Cho committed suicide after killing students and faculty members in a dormitory and classroom building on April 16, 2007 - the worst mass shootings in modern U.S. history. A memo from Kaine's chief legal counsel to victims' family members says Cho's records and those of several other Virginia Tech students were found July 18 in the home of Dr. Robert H. Miller. The memo said the records were removed from the Cook Counseling Center on the Virginia Tech campus more than a year before the shootings. Kaine said a Virginia State Police criminal investigation into how the records disappeared from the center where Cho was ordered to undergo counseling is under way. Removing records from the center is illegal, he said. The governor agreed to review the report examining the deadly 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech and to correct any errors based on what has been learned since its publication. CNN News story here Gordon Hickey, Kaine's press secretary, said Kaine has asked families to send his office corrections or changes that they feel need to be made. For more on this story, see vol5_iss27, vol5_iss28, and vol5_iss29.
In a state where indoor prostitution is still legal, it turns out teen strippers, 16- and 17 year-olds are taking off their clothes for money. WPRI News story here In Rhode Island, minors can legally dance at gentlemen's clubs. But now, there is a push to close that loophole. After reading through the state law on exploitation for commercial use, Eyewitness News discovered there is nothing prohibiting teens from stripping. One local group says if lawmakers don't act now, more young people could become victims of sexual abuse. The problem came to light after police learned a 16-year-old runaway was working as a stripper at Cheaters Gentlemen's Club in Providence. The manager declined to comment, though his club has done nothing wrong. State law does not stop teenagers from stripping. Peg Langhammer, Executive Director at Day One said, "We have numerous concerns about this." Langhammer says allowing teens to strip puts them at risk of abuse. A study by the University of Pennsylvania found that 60 to 80 percent of strippers have been victims of sexual assault. "It isn't until later that we allow them to drive alone and we have a law that allows them to strip in clubs? It really is disgraceful," said Langhammer. Adult entertainment is regulated by each city or town in most states including Rhode Island. Providence Senior City Solicitor Kevin McHugh says there was never any effort by the city to keep teens off the poles. Langhammer was not aware of the loop hole until recently. She tells us she and her organization will begin pushing legislators to close the loophole.
Police in central Massachusetts are trying to figure out who killed an expectant mother, removed a fetus from her womb and dumped her body in a closet. MSNBC News story here The fetus is missing. Darlene Haynes was about eight months pregnant when she was last seen alive. Her body was discovered Monday after her landlord went to check on a report of a strong odor coming from her apartment in Worcester, New England's second-largest city. Police say the 23-year-old Haynes was found wrapped in bedding. An autopsy shows her fetus was removed. Police say the missing infant could survive but would need medical attention immediately. The medical examiner has ruled the woman's death a homicide.
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