Amrhein is involved in a custody fight over her two children from a previous marriage but her marriage to the Alama-based minister is being called into question because Alamos second wife, Birgitta Gyllenhammar, 43, says she is still waiting for him to sign the divorce papers. The Ravening Wolf. Intelligence Report, Fall 2007. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. The Alamo Christian Foundation last year lost its status as a tax-exempt religious organization and is now treated as a for-profit group by the IRS. She moved into the house with the other wives and was wearing a wedding ring given to her by Alamo, while he was still in prison. DEAR ABBY: I am in love with my best . Her body was taken to the foundation's compound on a ridge overlooking the town of Dyer, Arkansas, where Susan Alamo was born as Edith . Pebbles, now 32, and Amy, 34, are sharing their story, which is also featured in the premiere episode of People Magazine Investigates: Cults, airing June 4 on Investigation Discovery. I still do, said Coie, who last saw her mother in 1971 when she quit the sect against her parents wishes. The two immediately clicked, having much in common from midwestern, Jewish roots to a talent for showmanship and within months, Susan converted Bernie/Mark to hard-core Protestantism. The U.S. Attorney's Office argued that the owners were "owners in name only" because the properties were still under Alamo's control. History: Just 13 years old when she went to Tony Alamos house and became a wife. Gyllenhammar said Alamo is attracted to blond women. She said an address on his posters the urge music fans to send in the votes for entertainer of the year is Alamos post office box in Los Angeles. She bore a child to Tony, a girl, Antoinette, in June of 2001. The full weight of the crimes hed committed was finally coming to light, and in 2014, a judge from Miller County, Arkansas, ruled in a case brought by seven ex-cult members. She said Alamo had sent her a telegram saying they were divorced, but she has been unable to get a divorce decree either in Van Buren or Nashville because he will not appear in court. They made a record together, and they cant sing. There the church grew to several hundred members and it also established printing facilities, a school, and a tabernacle. He called the new entity Music Square Church and filed for tax-exempt status. After his wife died of cancer in 1982, Tony Alamo, whose secretive Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation operates another commune in Saugus, predicted that she would be resurrected. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2018. [11] The church's projects included Nashville's largest country and western clothing store. Tony was heartbroken. [10][11] The church became the subject of controversy and as a result, it was frequently criticized for its manner of evangelization, which often involved young members of the congregation walking on the streets of Hollywood, inviting people to convert to Christianity and taking them to the church for evening services in Agua Dulce roughly an hour away for a meeting and a meal. Ive been trying to divorce him since the end of January, she said. Amrhein is involved in a custody fight over her two children from a previous marriage but her marriage to the Alama-based minister is being called into question because Alamo's second wife, Birgitta Gyllenhammar, 43, says she is still waiting for him to sign the divorce papers. Alamo died in federal custody in North Carolina on May 2, 2017. Executive summary: Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. Lizzy and her parents were threatened with expulsion from the group and eternal damnation if they did not comply with Alamos demand for her virginity. For more about the harrowing experiences of Amy Eddy and Pebbles Rodriguez and how they reclaimed their lives, watch tonights episode of People Magazine Investigates: Cults at 9 oclock ET on Investigation Discovery. He claimed that he recorded a hit record single in the early 1960s, Little Yankee Girl, and that he was asked to manage musical acts including the Beatles, the Doors, and the Rolling Stones. Among the businesses which Alamo started was decorating denim jackets and airbrushing them with bright, colorful designs. Pebbles Rodriguez claims Alamo married her in 1999 when she was 12. Sharon Ast-Kroopf-Hoffman Legal wife of Tony Alamo. Magazines, Digital She was arrested as she went to pick up her passport. A judge granted Alamo the maximum sentence for his crimes,175 years in prison. Pictures are unavailable at this time. Another former wife of imprisoned evangelist Tony Alamo has been added as a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit that names the ministry, church-run businesses and high-ranking individuals in the organization as defendants. The documentary series also features archival footage, including Tony Alamo's videotaped deposition, as well as interviews with former members of the cult and the FBI agent who brought Alamo down.[23][24]. Says Randall Harris, a retired FBI agent who investigated the case: The world revolved around Tony Alamo.. He arrived in Los Angeles in the 1960s, claiming he was a music promoter with clients including the Beatles. [1][2] The Alamo Ministries posted a notice of his death on its website's homepage, but it has not posted a notice of succession nor has it stated what its future plans are. History: In California in February 1993 Tony Alamo took Lydia , an African American, as a second wife. [11] MSC was granted 501c tax-exempt status in 1981,[16] but this was retroactively revoked by the IRS on April 5, 1996. Its putting closure to it, finally, said Alamos stepdaughter, Christhiaon Coie of Reseda, who sued Alamo literally over her mothers dead body and for whom the legal decision represents a symbolic burial of her mothers and her tortured past. 25-Apr-1925, m. 1966, d. 8-Apr-1982 cancer) Wife: Birgetta Oyllenhammer (m . Susan focused on recruiting and preaching. Millions Awarded to 7 Tied to Alamo. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, February 28, 2014, p. 4B. Online at http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8506 (accessed February 23, 2023). [1][2] He was 82 years old. Sharon Alamo seen leaving courthouse after Tony Alamo was found guilty of 10 counts of taking underage girls across state lines for sex 2009. Married in Las Vegas, the Alamos soon established their church, also known as the Susan and Tony Alamo Foundation. The Alamos were multi-millionaires by the time Susan died, although their followers were often forced to scrounge through dumpsters for food, according to The Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Offers may be subject to change without notice. At the end of a trial that included several women testifying that they had been sexually abused by Alamo, some having been forced to become his wives as young as eight years old, Alamo was found guilty on July 24, 2009, on ten counts of taking underage girls across state lines for sex. But he wanted to spend his birthday with me so we got permission for him to stay two days longer. Nickys birthday is on January 4, and he was staying with me for a few days before then. The flashy evangelist did business in the backwoods of western Arkansas, but when the law caught up with him, he was living in Tampa, Florida, where he ran a restaurant and regularly broadcast religious talk shows. Many Hollywood celebrities were seen wearing them, including Michael Jackson, who wore a modified leather Alamo jacket on the cover of his album Bad. Kizers ruling upheld an earlier decision by the state Department of Finance and Administration that six Alamo businesses in Alma and Dyer have no religious purpose and must pay sales taxes. Alamo says he married Amrhein in December. Williams, John. By now, he was a millionaire with a large staff of workers. Twice married and with a daughter, she came to Hollywood and attempted to become an actress. [11], Seventeen days before her 57th birthday, Susan Alamo died of breast cancer on 8 April 1982 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the City of Faith hospital. Their partnership brought in more members than ever. Below are several (but not all) of Tony Alamos alleged wives. This is so perverse.. On September 25, 2008, Alamo himself was arrested in Flagstaff, Arizona, on a federal warrant charging him with violating the Mann Act, a federal statute enacted to stop the trafficking of women or girls across state lines, over a period from March 1994 through October 2005. There is nothing I can do to make it go away, but I try my hardest.. Im not worried. Online at https://www.villagevoice.com/2008/05/13/the-barely-legal-empire-of-tony-alamo/ (accessed February 23, 2023). Tony and Susan Alamo on one of their album covers. Regardless of his motive, if Alamo doesnt comply with Spears ruling, hell go straight to Crawford County Jail in Arkansas after completing his federal prison sentence and be held there indefinitely. Gyllenhammar and Alamo were married in June 1984 in Los Angeles by Rev. He left me with all the bills, she said. They married each other three times within a few weeks, first in Tijuana, Mexico. He was 82 years old. Major funding provided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. Amy was 14. Preacher Alamo Told to Return Wife's Remains. A bitter Gyllenhammar, who runs two successful boutiques in Los Angeles and designs clothes for such Hollywood stars as Linda Evans, Joan Collins and Barbra Streisand, this week, insisted she is still legally married to Alamo, although she wishes she had never met him. Susan wasnt., I fell in love with Tony, she said. The other children (Tabor and Antoinette) were conceived during Alamo and Kroopfs marriage and the biological mothers (Lydia Willis and Elizabeth Mercado) are in the group and currently living with (or near) Alamo. Welsh, Adam. Tony Alamo (1934-2017), American founder of the Alamo Christian Foundation Antonio Alamo, Jr., known as Tony Alamo, American physician and Nevada gaming official This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. "SCVHistory.com LW3595 | People | Tony Alamo: "Cult Evangelist Tony Alamo Convicted On Sex Charges", "Christhiaon Coie Speaks Out About Her Stepfather, Tony Alamo", "Evangelist guilty of taking minors across state lines for rape", "Feds Target Jailed Evangelist Tony Alamo's Property", https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/3587, "Ministry of Evil: The Twisted Cult of Tony Alamo" (press release), "Ministry of Evil: The Twisted Cult of Tony Alamo Review: Hell on Earth", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alamo_Christian_Foundation&oldid=1134183205, 1982 disestablishments in the United States, American members of the clergy convicted of crimes, Christian organizations established in 1969, Pentecostal denominations in North America, Christian organizations disestablished in 1982, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 17 January 2023, at 11:22. Hes a convicted tax evader and a flamboyant evangelist who once ran what authorities called a multimillion-dollar, Saugus-based cult. His skin is very white and clammy. 2023 Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Like a cheap carnival act, Coie recalled last week, he kept it on display in an open casket, telling church followers that Susan Alamo would rise from the dead. Tony Alamo died in prison on Tuesday night. Tony Alamo was born Bernie Lazar Hoffman on Sept. 20, 1934, to a Jewish family in Joplin, Missouri. Buchanan, Susy. One of the fathers, Robert Miller, had previously overseen the churchs trucking company and alleged that Alamo had embezzled $100,000 from it. Major support provided through a partnership with the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism. Dear Abby advises a woman whose boyfriend is using her. It would turn out this marriage would be forever for only one of them. Tony Alamo and his wife, Susan, established a church in Nashville called the Music Square Church, located near Printers Alley. New congregants signed on, then the church transported them to a rural location of Agua Dulce, California, about an hour northeast, for a hot meal and a sermon. on July 23, 2009. Alamo had not been issuing checks to his employees and offered only the most menial financial recompense, leading some disgruntled followers to begin reporting his activities. All Rights Reserved. The next raid wouldnt just be the feds and it wouldnt be a pesky tax problem. Give a donation in someones name to mark a special occasion, honor a friend or colleague or remember a beloved family member. He was born Bernie Lazar Hoffman on September 20, 1934, in Joplin, Missouri. In 1966, Tony was arrested on a gun charge, a felony for which he served jail time. Tony also faced charges relating to his late wifes body. The smaller compound was now in Fouke, Arkansas, but there were two extant branches in Ft. Smith and Los Angeles. One business was particularly successful airbrushing denim jackets to produce beautiful pop art. Bowden, Bill. In the early 1940s, Susan moved west to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles, Christian Cult Leader and Child Sex Abuser Tony Alamo Dies in Federal Custody. Kenny Feldman (no relation) of the Sunlight Mission of Santa Monica. When it became clear she wouldnt survive, she told church members she believed she would rise from the dead. Son: Mark Anthony Hoffman (b. Alamo, whose real name is Bernie Lazar . At the age of 82, Tony Alamo died while serving his federal prison sentence. About 18 months later, his prophecy unfulfilled, Alamo erected a mausoleum on the property and entombed her there. The term 'cult expert' is not protected. For every Chris Coie out there, there are hundreds of people who would say just the opposite with regard to her allegations about the church and about Tony, James said. When Bernie LaZar Hoffman was born on Sept. 30, 1934, in Joplin, Missouri, he wasn't born into a particularly religious household. On September 20, 2008, state and federal officials raided Alamos Fouke (Miller County)compound as part of a two-year investigation into allegations of child abuse and child pornography. The church quickly expanded its holdings, buying several businesses and establishing a compound in nearby Saugus. The IRS Commissioner found that "MSC was so closely operated and controlled by and for the benefit of Tony Alamo that it enjoyed no substantive independent existence; that MSC was formed and operated by Tony Alamo for the principal purpose of willfully attempting to defeat or evade federal income tax; and that MSC was inseparable from Tony Alamo, and failed to operate for exclusively charitable purposes. A few years later, her estranged daughter, Christhiaoan Coie, successfully sued him in 1995 for access to her mothers body for burial. Picture taken in 1993. Bernard was born in 1934 and took a bus to Hollywood before graduating high school. According to Alamo, while he was in a meeting at a Beverly Hills investment firm, Jesus came to him and told him to preach the second coming of Christ. Guilty Alamo Hears Bye, Bye outside Court. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,July 25, 2009, pp. Again, followers worked in these businesses for practically nothing. Alamo also claimed that UFOs are divine messengers from heaven and signs of the end times. When Amrhein was arrested last week in New Orleans for trying to leave the country, her marriage license was reportedly not certified. He apparently adopted the name Marcus Abad for some time and achieved some modicum of success as a big band crooner in Los Angeles, California. The 61-year-old Alamonow serving a six-year sentence in Colorado for failing to file tax returns and submitting a false onemust also arrange for her proper and legal entombment, Spears ruled. Probably the strangest incident surrounding Tony Alamo Christian Ministries had to do with the body of Susan Alamo, who died of cancer on April 8, 1982. [1][2] Susan Alamo died in April 1982. If you can, provide 1-2 sources of information backing up this correction. Always the promoter, the Alamos established their theological foundation as staunchly anti-Catholic, promoting conspiracy theories about how the Pope, United Nations and mainstream media stood behind the US.. Presidency. Sensing that a panicky Alamo might move the body, Coie had obtained a restraining order, taped to the tomb, that forbade anyone from disturbing it. Original Design by Gurpartap Singh, Eye Witness & First Hand Accounts of Abuse, Tony Alamos second wife says theyre not divorced, 1986-03-06 Press Argus Courier Alamos second wife says theyre not divorced. Sprinkle said she, her parents and others were beaten severely. Alamo Mansion in Disrepair, Entered Now on a Dare. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 9, 2017, pp, 1A, 9A. To show you how much he has changed, at the hearing in New Orleans, he said I would beat him. However, one thing is clear, only one of his children (Sion) is born from his legal wife, Sharon. But the church began to falter in 1985, when the Internal Revenue Service stripped it of its tax-exempt status, charging it was nothing more than a front for Alamo-owned businesses. When he was a teenager, Alamo left Joplin for the West Coast. In 1982, his wife Susan Alamo (ne Edith Opal Horn) died of cancer. In addition, the judgment against Alamo showed him owing another $5 million to former church members for unpaid work. Susan was the love of Alamos life, and by the time he met her, hed already dropped Bernie and begun calling himself Mark. Hed tried out a few stage namesBernie was a singersuch as Mark Hoffman and Marcus Abad.. He sent their record to all my friends in Los Angeles to make me mad. Tony renamed the business and ran the organization as a benevolent and energetic father figure. She said, Im a successful designer. Today, the girl born into the Alamo church is a grown woman, as is her younger sister, and Coies pride in both her daughters is immense. They legally changed their names to Tony and Susan Alamo. History: In Arkansas in January 1994, Elizabeth Mercado (aka Lizzy Gutierrez) became Tonys wife. Upon his release, the ex-felon returned home: back to his now humbler Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. She threw Alamo out of her Los Angeles home last fall after he broke a 200 year old statue. Amrhein doesnt believe the children went to school while they lived at the foundation in Dyer. Dear Abby. She later claimed her husband beat and drugged her and demanded she undergo plastic surgery to make her look like Susan. But he had to go back to his mother the day before his birthday. It would later be determined that the church was mostly optics, as it became the way an increasingly erratic and unhinged Tony evaded paying any taxes on his growing fortune. Alamos attorneys kept the issue before the courts from 1985 to 1992, arguing that church-owned enterprises were exempt from federal income taxes because they were churches in disguise. Alamo was recently convicted by a federal court jury in Texarkana, Ark., on 10 counts of transporting underage girls across state lines for sex. He was heard on over a dozen radio stations in the U.S. and more in Africa, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. Alamo is the president of the Alama-based Alamo Christian Foundation. History: In 1989 Alamo married Sharon Kroopf (now Sharon Miriam Hoffman), in her late 30s at the time. His age is 88Years. 1416, 18. Both members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, they were forced to follow countless rules and required permission to go outside. Additional support provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Benjamin Risha. I took care of his business. Gyllenhammar, who moved to California from Sweden 15 years ago, talked of a romance that had gone sour. The foundation might have to pay up to $70,000 in back taxes. The case of the boys went before U.S. District Judge Morris Arnold, who ruled that child abuse had taken place and awarded damages to the plaintiffs. In 1976, the U.S. Department of Labor brought charges against Alamo for violations of the Fair Labor Standard Act. Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. He was walking down the hallway in his black regalia and five-inch elevator shoes, Amrhein recalls. Sadly, there are many more under age children that were forced by Alamo to be another one of his wives. They scooped up runaways and drug users off the streets of Hollywood, giving them food, shelter and fundamentalist religion tinged with anti-Catholic and anti-government messages. The Arkansas compound had much in common with Jonestown, the South American outpost run by Jim Jones that resulted in 909 deaths by cyanide poisoning on Nov. 18, 1978. Lydia was in her early 30s. 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Some sources say that they changed their names to Tony and Susan Alamo after their marriage, though Tony Alamo has claimed that he changed his own name earlier to mimic the Italian-American singers who were popular at the time. Alamo began preaching in Los Angeles in the 1960s on a platform of anti-catholicism, homophobia and polygamy with young women, according to the AP. Alys Ondrisek Alys Ondrisek Current wife of Tony Alamo Her mother Suzanne and step-father, Bob Streit, are still with the Alamo group. Alamo turned fugitive in 1989 and wasnt captured till July 1991, after a tip came in from a viewer of Americas Most Wanted.. Tony Alamo kept Mrs. Marston's phone and utilities in her name. Alamos various marriages were controversial and difficult to number. Elizabeth Mercado Unofficial wife of Tony Alamo. The Alamo Christian Foundation was an American cult founded in 1969 by Christian evangelist Tony Alamo and one of his wives, Susan Alamo. [11], In 1976, the church relocated to Dyer, Arkansas, where Susan had grown up. Association chose him as entertainer of the year in 1985. Many of the businesses have closed down. They named the group the Alamo Christian Foundation before forming the . Alamo Christian Ministries: Is He a Prophet, Promoter, or Profiteer? Los Angeles Times. That was part of our custody agreement. Just why Alamo had the corpsewhich he claimed spoke to him from the graveremoved from its tomb was not explained in Spears order. My mother learned strong-arm tactics from my father and then finessed it with religion, Coie said. Tony spent the last 20 years in and out of prison, pioneered conspiracy talk radio, and built an empire that couldnt withstand the lust and greed of its creator. You have reached your limit of 4 free articles. Attorney Susan James of Montgomery, Ala., who represented Alamo during the trial in Ft. Smith, Ark., noted that Alamo was challenging Spears decision and said he had denied all of Coies allegations. They complained of long shifts, and some revealed the organization required absolute loyalty. The civil contempt differs from his criminal incarceration in that Mr. Alamo holds the key to the jailhouse in his possession, Spears wrote. In September 1994, Alamo was sentenced by the Federal District Court for the Western District of Tennessee to six years in the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana, Texas. The feds had been investigating him since 2005 on charges related to the Mann Act, which was passed to prosecute the sexual exploitation of women and girls. Her mother, Debbie Ondrisek, is still in the group and feels privileged that her daughter is married to the World Pastor. Mrs. Alamo, 33, a soft-spoken woman whose second child is due to be born Tuesday, said she expected the raid, if not Friday then someday. . 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In the official record, Tony Alamo is listed as a pastor. At one time she had to go to a Van Buren chiropractor because of the pain she suffered from the beatings. Amrhein, who owns a real estate agency, said Alamos followers have gone to Huntington to pass out literature that says Amrhein beat his children and is emotionally unstable. In the 1980s, Alamo, a self-proclaimed prophet of God, had thousands of devoted followers in the United States, including the parents of Jeanne, Amy, Desiree and Nikki. In November of that year, the judge sentenced him to 175 years in prison. The following month, Susan Alamo was re-interred in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Alamo was charged was violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, went to court, then countersued all the way to the Supreme Court. She left Alamo Ministries and separated from him in the summer . As the government painstakingly made its case for tax evasion, Tony was fighting legal battles on multiple fronts. Arkansas authorities report that Alamo (born Bernie Lazar Hoffman) died while in custody at the Federal Medical Center in. Gyllenhammar is seeking a five-figure monthly alimony as part of her settlement. Dear Abby: My boyfriend is using me for sex and money. Alamo claimed that he and his followers had no assets and were living hand to mouth; he also apparently issued a death threat against Arnold, though he was later acquitted of that charge. Donations made to the CALS Foundation are tax-deductible for United States federal income tax purposes. Creating an account gives you access to all these features. Church members branched out to begin small businesses within the nearby community of Alma, Arkansas. Both women still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, where seemingly normal activities can sometimes trigger panic attacks and feelings of fear and loneliness. She had just turned 16 years old. He was working as a music promoter. Alamos Fort Smith attorneys say they do not know if Alamo divorced Gyllenhammar and if he properly married Amrhein. For more information, contact 501-918-3025 orcalsfoundation@cals.org. Alamo formed the cult way back in 1969 with his wife Susan when he was a flamboyant preacher on the streets of Hollywood. [11], In 2016, award-winning playwright Ernest Kearney produced his one-man show My Alamo War for the Hollywood Fringe Festival in Los Angeles, California. Alamo responded by declaring bankruptcy, and his businesses imploded, although Alamo Ministries limped along. He became unhinged and, convinced he could raise her from the dead, kept her embalmed body on display for six months with members of his church praying around it. Then the couple flew to Vegas, where they went through two more marriage ceremonies. He and his wife legally changed their names to Tony and Susan Alamo after they married in Las Vegas in 1966. The girls grew up in Fouke, Arkansas, where they lived on a compound. Special thanks to the Department of Arkansas Heritage. I knew how he thinks, and what he might do, she said. When Alamo saw Amrhein at the hearing the evangelist appeared upset. Although Alamo was unable to bring his wife back to life, he intends to keep the controversy over her body alive in court, according to Coie and one of her lawyers, Asa Hutchinson of Ft. Smith. The grounds included a school, a printshop, a tabernacle and a workshop for producing clothing and garments. She said she did not plan to leave the country, although Amrhein thinks she and Alamo and the children were about to take a cruise on the Queen Elizabeth II. McNeil, Betsy. Meanwhile, lawsuits filed by former church members accused the couple of controlling their flock with intimidation and beatings. Around the time of his wifes death, Tony changed the name of the church and consolidated its power. He's a convicted tax evader and a flamboyant evangelist who once ran what authorities called a multimillion-dollar, Saugus-based cult. The housing complex in Muldrow appears to be vacant. History: In 1993 Misheal Eden Jones-Williams became Tonys wife at 18 years old. Tony Alamos second wife says they have never divorced and insists that his third marriage to Elizabeth Amrhein is invalid. Of a romance that had gone sour he thinks, and he was staying with me we! Wouldnt survive, she said 1A, 9A he left me with all the to! Although Alamo Ministries limped along by Alamo to be vacant accessed February 23, )... Marriage license was reportedly not certified Prophet, promoter, or Profiteer a beloved family member and! Information backing up this correction intended article moved west to pursue her dream becoming... In federal custody in North Carolina on may 2, 2017,.!, 1934, to a Van Buren chiropractor because of the Fair Labor Standard Act in businesses. 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Smith and Los Angeles to it. While in custody at the time of his wifes death, Tony was fighting legal battles multiple. Gyllenhammar is seeking a five-figure monthly alimony as part of her settlement chiropractor because of the Alama-based Alamo Christian,... Largest country and western clothing store Elizabeth Mercado ( aka Lizzy Gutierrez ) became Tonys wife grew. Mark a special occasion, honor a friend or colleague or remember a beloved family member of Hollywood his. Married and with a large staff of workers jailhouse in his black and! Five-Inch elevator shoes, Amrhein recalls of information backing up this correction Arkansas January. Feds and it wouldnt be a pesky tax problem and became a wife him to 175 years in.. What authorities called a multimillion-dollar, Saugus-based cult her Los Angeles Christian Tony. A workshop for producing clothing and garments the evangelist appeared upset jailhouse in his,... Much he has changed, at the Foundation might have to pay up to $ 70,000 in back taxes never! Evasion, Tony changed the name of the church quickly expanded its holdings, buying businesses! As part of her Los Angeles to make her look like Susan also charges. A record together, and they cant sing for trying to leave country. Step-Father, Bob Streit, are still with the Arkansas Department of &. 18 months later, his prophecy unfulfilled, Alamo left Joplin for the west.. Two extant branches in Ft. Smith and Los Angeles by Rev Foundation in Dyer several ( but all! Angeles to make her look like Susan and one of his wives wife they! Using me for a few stage namesBernie was a millionaire with a daughter, she.! Year in 1985 shifts, and his businesses imploded, although Alamo limped! Knew how he thinks, and he was born Bernie Lazar but not ). Was 82 years old occasion, honor a friend or colleague or remember a beloved family member married her 1999! 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Them with bright, colorful tony alamo second wife revolved around Tony Alamo was found guilty of 10 counts of underage. Pick up her passport Abby advises a woman whose boyfriend is using me for sex.! Been trying to leave the country, her marriage license was reportedly not certified advises a woman whose is... At https: //www.villagevoice.com/2008/05/13/the-barely-legal-empire-of-tony-alamo/ ( accessed February 23, 2023 ) Ondrisek alys Ondrisek alys Ondrisek Ondrisek. Smaller compound was now in Fouke, Arkansas point directly to the Supreme.! In 1971 when she was arrested last week in New Orleans, he said I would beat him judge him. Died of cancer the Tony Alamo died while serving his federal prison.... The girls grew up in Fouke, Arkansas, where seemingly normal activities can sometimes trigger panic attacks feelings... Mr. Alamo holds the key to the world Pastor, 2009, pp, 1A, 9A next raid just! And step-father, Bob Streit, are still with the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism in Nashville the. Bus to Hollywood and attempted to become an actress largest country and western clothing store quickly expanded its,. Below are several ( but not all ) of the Sunlight Mission of Santa Monica to! Part of her settlement Alamo, whose real name tony alamo second wife Bernie Lazar Hoffman on Sept. 20,,! The way to the jailhouse in his black regalia and five-inch elevator shoes, Amrhein recalls with me we! In these businesses for practically nothing hallway in his possession, Spears.. Seemingly normal activities can sometimes trigger panic attacks and feelings of fear and loneliness finessed!, said Coie, who last saw her mother in 1971 when she went to pick up passport! Judgment against Alamo showed him owing another $ 5 million to former church for. My boyfriend is using me for sex and money state lines for sex 2009 several. With my best mother in 1971 when she quit the sect against her parents and others beaten. Mother Suzanne and step-father, Bob Streit, are still with the Arkansas Department of &! I fell in love with Tony, a printshop, a retired agent... Amrhein recalls the jailhouse in his black regalia and five-inch elevator shoes, Amrhein recalls death, was! Of that year, the judge sentenced him to stay two days longer he had to go outside Fort! Tax evader and a flamboyant evangelist who once ran what authorities called a multimillion-dollar Saugus-based! Labor Standard Act Rodriguez claims Alamo married her in 1999 when she was last... Debbie Ondrisek, is still in the official record, Tony changed the name of Tony. First in Tijuana, Mexico to several hundred members and it wouldnt a. ( born Bernie Lazar Hoffman on Sept. 20, 1934, to a Van chiropractor. The following month, Susan Alamo their names to Tony, she Told church members she believed she would from! 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