The Alamo nightmare
An Oregon recounts her experiences as a child in an Arkansas compound with Tony Alamo and his dead wife.
[Elisha] Franckiewicz said Sunday she decided to tell her story because she worries that the public will be swayed by Alamo's arguments that his group is being persecuted. At one time, she says, Alamo was married to 10 girls ages 15 and younger, including her two nieces.
Arkansas police said Saturday that they had received complaints from former ministry members about allegations of child abuse, sexual abuse and polygamy. In turn, they turned over information about the allegations to the FBI.
Alamo has publicly denied the child abuse allegations.
"I want to talk about this because I am so afraid that once again allegations are just going to somehow find a way of not coming to fruition," Franckiewicz said. "He's been on the news before. He's been raided before. Yet, he's still here. My story doesn't matter now. But there are people's stories who do matter. They're more recent. I want to tell mine so there'll be safety in numbers."
One question for authorities is what finally moved them to action. Allegations about abuse of children at the Fouke compound have been aired for well more than a year.
The state of Arkansas has taken six children into custody at the Fouke compound, most likely girls 14 or younger. They'll have to seek court approval to retain custody longer than 72 hours. The feds have said they are investigating potential child sexual abuse and production of child pornography.
