County Takes 3 Children From Cult

Three children seized by authorities Thursday at the compound of a religious sect were temporarily turned over to their fathers, who claim that sect leaders attacked them when they tried to see the youngsters.

During the hearing before Orange County Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Owen in Santa Ana, brothers Carey and Robert Miller were granted temporary custody of the children until a hearing can be scheduled on an order to show cause.

The next hearing should be scheduled within 15 days, a court clerk said.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies used warrants to serve writs of habeus corpus at two commune sites operated by the Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation, located about five miles apart on Sierra Highway in the Newhall section of Los Angeles, about 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

The children, ages 4, 9 and 11, were taken from their mothers, Susan and Carol Ann Miller, reunited with their fathers and escorted to the court here for the custody hearings, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Van Mosley said.

“A writ of habeus corpus is an order to produce--in this case, a person--for appearance in court,” Mosley explained.

Pair Excommunicated

“The fathers, following a falling out with Tony Alamo, were excommunicated, summarily divorced and banned from foundation property at the Arkansas commune in the fall of 1987,” Mosley explained.

“Their wives and children remained with the cult and moved to California (with the cult),” he said. “Their wives were remarried to trusted Alamo aides.”

Carey Miller said he joined the Alamo commune 15 years ago, but that he and his brother became embroiled in a dispute with Alamo last fall.

Alamo forced them to sign over assets from a profitable interstate trucking firm they had started with family money, Miller claimed.

The brothers said they fled the Arkansas commune in September because they feared for their lives. When they returned to see their children, they were “chased and attacked,” Carey Miller said.

Sect Characterized

He described the foundation as a “possessive, restrictive, control-type organization.”

Mosley said the two Newhall communes are home to about 70 adults and 15 children. “They all reside in a communal environment divided into separate locations about five miles apart,” Mosley said.

Alamo and his late wife, Susan, started preaching on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip in 1966. They attracted numerous young followers and formed a commune in Saugus, which later moved to Arkansas. Recently they moved their headquarters back to California, but still have centers in Chicago, Miami, Arizona and Arkansas.

Alamo created the foundation in 1969 and became its president. Alamo has said his real name is Bernie Lazar Hoffman and has described himself as a Jew who converted to Christianity. A former singer, he recorded a hit song called “This Ol’ House.”

In the summer of 1982, Alamo’s group started offering unwed mothers a place to have and raise their children.

The group attracted attention in 1984 when religious and political leaders condemned it for distributing anti-Catholic literature.

In 1985, the Supreme Court ruled that 300 people who volunteered their services to the controversial group must receive the minimum wage and overtime pay or the equivalent in free lodging, meals and other benefits.

The foundation is exempt from paying federal taxes as a religious organization.