SAN FERNANDO : Evangelist Tony Alamo Arrested on Tax Charges
Evangelist Tony Alamo was arrested Friday by Internal Revenue Service agents on tax fraud charges after a hearing in San Fernando Superior Court on an unrelated felony child abuse case.
The 58-year-old former country singer, whose real name is Bernie Lazar Hoffman, was arrested by the federal agents as his state pretrial hearing concluded, said a Los Angeles district attorney’s spokeswoman.
A grand jury in Memphis, Tenn.--a state where Alamo and his followers operated retail and manufacturing businesses--indicted Alamo on charges of filing a false income tax statement for 1985 and failing to file tax returns for the years 1986 to 1988.
The IRS last year filed a $10-million claim against the religious leader for failing to pay taxes on income earned from a variety of businesses that flourished during the 1980s.
Alamo faces trial in San Fernando on a charge he ordered the beating in 1988 of an 11-year-old boy who lived at a Saugus commune.
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