Tony Alamo/Alamo Foundation/Alamo Ministries Legal Issues
Tony Alamo, a convicted felon, attempts to register to vote in time for the fall 2006 elections his latest adopted home county. He failed to note that he is a convicted
felon on his voter registration card. This amounts to perjury in the eyes of the law.
Tony Alamo runs, but can't hide from the law and is arrested in Tampa, FL...
"The July 6 (1994) issue of _The Denver Post_ reports that "Alamo, 56,
a fugitive for more than two years, was tracked to a Tampa home
after a flood of tips prompted by coverage of his case on crime
re-enactment television shows and news programs."
Of course, the above article is in reference to what Tony Alamo was running from and was ultimately imprisoned for - tax evasion. Alamo was ultimately
convicted of felony tax evasion, sentenced to 6 years, and imprisoned in 1994 after being picked up in Tampa. During this time, allegations also flew that Alamo
had taken two 15-year old "wives". All this was after allegations that Alamo ordered a severe beating of an 11 year old. More on that later...
Tony didn't give up once imprisoned, oh no he rode the appeals court as far as he could. Referring to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, claiming
that the denial of Alamo's parole substantially burdened their exercise of religion and was not justified by a compelling government interest. However, the
courts didn't see it this way...
"Alamo Church lost the services of its pastor as a consequence of Tony Alamo's criminal conduct, for which he was convicted and sentenced to jail. A convicted
prisoner has no absolute right to parole; rather, the issue of parole is delegated to the Commission's discretion. See 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 4206, 4218(d) (West
Supp. 1997). Thus, the church's alleged injury was caused by Alamo's criminal conduct for which he was convicted, not by the Commission's subsequent decision
denying him parole. Accordingly, the church's loss of its pastor's services is not fairly traceable to the Commission's allegedly illegal parole decision.
Florida Audubon Soc'y, 94 F.3d at 663 (in analyzing the "causation" element of constitutional standing, this court asks whether the challenged acts of the
defendant-as opposed to the acts of a third party-caused the plaintiff's particularized injury)".
• In 1976, the Labor Department brought charges against Alamo for violating labor law.
Alamo’s defense for not paying salaries to the church members working in ACM’s
business ventures was that the church covered all of the workers’ basic necessities.
Alamo lost the case.
• In 1985, the IRS revoked ACM’s tax-exempt status. It also began an investigation into
Tony Alamo for tax fraud.
• In 1988, ACM’s property was raided by authorities after a complaint stated Tony Alamo
had ordered four men to paddle an 11-year-old-boy 140 times. These charges were
eventually dropped.
• In 1990, the IRS filed liens of more than $8 million against ACM for not paying taxes on
its business ventures. Within a year, the IRS had seized ACM businesses and property
for payment.
• In 1994, Tony Alamo was convicted on charges of filing a false income tax return and for
not filing any return for three years. The IRS claimed he owed $2.2 million. This
conviction led to more ACM property being seized and sold by the IRS to pay off the
debt. He was sentenced to six years in prison and was released in 1998.
Alamo's response to these allegations? "A true Christian work is biblically tax exempt.”
Online Reference
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