Judge denies bid to delay Alamo property hearing

TEXARKANA — A federal magistrate has denied a bid by a follower of convicted evangelist Tony Alamo to delay the sale of six Fort Smith properties.

The Texarkana Gazette reported Friday that U. S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant refused to delay a May 30 hearing to determine which properties might be sold. Sally Demoulin, a longtime Alamo ministry member who also acts as the group’s bookkeeper, had filed the motion.

Bryant ruled last month that the properties could be sold to partially satisfy a $ 30 millionplus judgment Alamo owes two men raised in Alamo’s group.

In April, the U. S. Supreme Court denied a request by Alamo to hear an appeal of a civil lawsuit in which Alamo was ordered to pay Seth Calagna and Spencer Ondrisek. A federal jury in Texarkana, Ark., had found that Alamo abused the two when they were children growing up in Alamo’s ministry.

The judgment was reduced to $ 15 million each by the 8th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Federal prosecutors are seeking the seizure of Alamo’s house at the church complex in Fouke, as well as a church gymnasium and a building known as the “house of scorn,” where girls were allegedly forced to fast. Authorities also want to seize two properties in Fort Smith and a house in Texarkana.

In addition to the claims of the Alamo members — who have taken the position that the church properties are communally owned — Alamo’s stepdaughter, Christhiaon Coie, has said she is interested in the properties. Coie was awarded a $ 100,000 judgment against Alamo in the 1990s.

In 2009, Alamo was convicted of sexually abusing five underage girls and is serving 175 years in prison. Alamo was also ordered to pay $ 500,000 in restitution to each accuser.