D.A. Halts Child-Abuse Case Against Church Leader

Child-abuse charges will not be filed against Christian commune leader Tony Alamo and four of his followers because prosecutors concluded there was not enough evidence, the district attorney’s office said Thursday.

About 60 sheriff’s deputies raided Alamo’s commune in a remote Saugus canyon in March after receiving complaints from a young former resident who said he had been beaten with a paddle. The four followers were arrested on suspicion of felony child abuse, but authorities were unable to find Alamo.

“There is insufficient evidence, in my opinion, to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Myron L. Jenkins, a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County.

Jenkins said there were problems with the case because the allegations were made by an 11-year-old whose parents are locked in a bitter custody dispute and because a physician could not say with certainty that the child had been battered. In addition, authorities believe that potential witnesses who lived at the commune were moved out of the area on buses, he said.

“There being a three-year statute of limitations, if additional evidence becomes available in the future, the case could be resubmitted,” Jenkins said.

In a telephone interview following the announcement, Alamo accused authorities of trying to discredit his church by masterminding the raid, which he said was “hatched in hell.”

Anti-Catholic Literature

“It’s an attempt to destroy the integrity of the church and myself,” said Alamo, who had remained a fugitive since the raid. “Every time Satan forces hurt on our church, it’s a direct attempt to destroy people’s souls.”

Alamo operates the Tony & Susan Alamo Foundation, which perhaps is best known for circulating anti-Catholic literature in cities across the country. The foundation, which has been the target of numerous government investigations over the years, lost its tax-exempt status after the IRS concluded that it was primarily a money-making enterprise taking much of its members’ income. The foundation is appealing the decision.

The most recent investigation was launched in March. An Orange County Superior Court judge gave temporary child custody to two brothers, Robert Alan Miller and Corey Lee Miller--both former Alamo followers--who alleged that their three sons had been physically and emotionally abused. After deputies took the boys from the Saugus commune, Justin Miller, 11, told authorities that, two months earlier, he had been struck 140 times with a wooden paddle by four men at Alamo’s urging.

Justin’s allegations prompted the second, larger raid. Deputies arrested four men who the boy said had participated in the beating. Deputies were unable to serve arrest warrants on Alamo and two other church members who were not found on the grounds.

Jenkins said the physician who examined Justin could not determine if the bruising on his buttocks resulted from a recent swatting or from a serious beating months earlier.

Jenkins said Justin’s mother still belongs to the church and would deny that her son had been struck, further weakening the case.

Raid Decision Defended

Lt. Don Bear defended the Sheriff’s Department decision to conduct the massive early morning raid in March.

“We had enough evidence for probable cause to obtain the search warrants and arrest warrants. They were signed by a judge,” Bear said. “We had a good legal foundation to be out there.”

Alamo and his followers, however, bitterly criticized the need for the raid and the manner in which it was conducted. In notarized statements sent to The Times, church members said deputies shoved, cursed and, in some cases, pointed weapons at them.

“They went into all the houses, made everybody get out of bed, some at gunpoint,” wrote John Scruggs, who identified himself as a junior minister of the Holy Alamo Christian Church.

“One of the sisters was walking around wrapped in a blanket. The wind was blowing very hard. It was cold,” Scruggs wrote. “They finally stuck us in vans and in some of their vehicles while we watched them ransack our houses, going in and out of them as they pleased, laughing and joking among themselves, cursing and smoking, having a free-for-all, totally unrespectful knowing that we are Christians.”

Bear discounted allegations that commune members were manhandled by deputies during the raid.

“Our unit commander was at the scene. We had numerous supervisory personnel out there,” he said. “There was not any improper conduct on our part.”