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6 children in custody after US church compound raided
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-22 10:42

Authorities' search of the Fouke complex ended after midnight Saturday, and Sadler said officials had no plans to search the buildings again. Authorities have not indicated any plans to search other ministry locations.

A man patrols in front of the Tony Alamo Christian Church in Fouke, Ark., early Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008. The 15-acre church compound was quiet Sunday following a raid by federal and state law enforcement officers as part of a child-abuse and pornography investigation. A prosecutor said an arrest warrant was likely. [Agencies]

Sunday afternoon, a van ferried members back and forth from a nearby 15-acre (6-hectare) compound to the church on US 71. Two women, one pushing a stroller, entered the building along with several children. A man at the door told reporters that "no visitors" would be allowed in for the services.

US Attorney Bob Balfe declined to comment when asked whether an arrest warrant had been issued for Alamo or other members of his church. Balfe said before the raid that he expected a warrant to be issued for the 74-year-old leader.

As fog lifted Sunday morning from Fouke, no police cruisers blocked the dead-end drive up to Alamo's compound, as they had Saturday evening. Alamo's house, an L-shaped ranch home, sat empty with decorative bars over its windows.

Uniformed security guards patrolled the grounds and sat near the gates. None carried a pistol, though Purvis said some have in the past. A guard declined to comment and said no one was available to talk to reporters.

Alamo and his late wife Susan were street preachers along Hollywood's Sunset Strip in 1966 before forming a commune near Saugus, California. Susan Alamo died of cancer in 1982; Alamo claimed she would be resurrected and kept her body on display for six months while their followers prayed.

Alamo was convicted of tax-related charges in 1994 after the IRS said he owed the government $7.9 million. He served four years in prison.

Prosecutors in the tax case argued before sentencing that Alamo was a flight risk and a polygamist who preyed on married women and girls in his congregation.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors the activities of extremist groups in the US, describes Alamo's ministry as a cult that opposes homosexuality, Catholicism and the government.

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