TEXARKANA (LALATE) – Tony Alamo has been named in a lawsuit brought by six former church members. The Tony Alamo lawsuit also names fellow church members and church owned businesses as co defendants. The lawsuit seeks for each plaintiff $150,000 in damages plus pain and suffering and future damages. Plaintiffs alleged that the church had notice or should have had notice that Alamo was abusing children. The complaint asserts violations of federal law relating to human trafficking.

In November 2009, Alamo founder of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries was sentenced to 175 years in prison, found guilty of transporting minor girls across state borders for sexual relations. Alamo, then 75, was ordered to pay a quarter million dollars.

The case drew upon a joint task force of investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Arkansas State Police. Assistant United States Attorneys Kyra Jenner, Candace Taylor and Clay Fowlkes said after their verdict that “Bernie Hoffman, a/k/a Tony Alamo, founder and leader of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, age 75, was sentenced to 175 years imprisonment today by U.S. District Court Judge Harry F. Barnes in United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas announced U.S. Attorney Deborah Groom.

“The sentence included a fine in the amount of $250,000, and special assessments in the amount of $850.00. The sentence represents the maximum sentence on each of the ten counts which will be served consecutively.”