Plea Bargain Offered to Parents Accused in Beating at Commune

The district attorney’s office has offered a plea bargain to resolve criminal charges against a couple accused in the beating of their 11-year-old son at the Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation’s commune in Saugus, an attorney in the case said Friday.

Arraignment for Marc Stuart Landgarten, 40, and Carol Ann Miller Landgarten, 37, had been set for Thursday in Antelope Municipal Court. But the hearing was continued to Feb. 14 so the couple could consider the offer, said Charles A. Klum, a public defender representing Carol Landgarten.

The Landgartens, who remain free on $25,000 bail each, were originally charged in an October, 1988, complaint that included felony child abuse charges against Tony Alamo and three other church members stemming from the incident. Alamo and the three others remain fugitives.

“Basically it’s going to be up to them to decide” if the couple wants to accept the plea bargain and avoid trial, Klum said.

The attorney added that he could not discuss the proposed terms because he had yet to present them to his client.

The district attorney’s office confirmed that plea-bargain discussions are occurring in the case against members of the anti-Catholic sect but declined to elaborate. “There have been some negotiations, but I don’t know what the status of those are,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven D. Ogden.

Klum, head public defender in Lancaster, said prosecutors acknowledge that the mother was not an active participant in the January, 1988, incident on Alamo foundation property. Her son allegedly was struck about 140 times on the buttocks with a three-foot paddle.

The stepfather held the boy down but did not spank him, Klum said.

The stepfather is represented by attorney Robert M. Talcott, who could not be reached for comment.

Klum said he expects the Landgartens will respond to the district attorney’s offer before their return to court.

The public defender said he had yet to decide whether to recommend the offer.

He added that it does not involve the couple providing information about other sect members.