Tony Alamo and Susan Alamo moved to Dyer/Alma area in the late 70s. They set up a property/compound called Georgia Ridge. In 1982 Susan Alamo died. Throughout the 70s and 80s Tony Alamo was in conflict with both the Labor Department and the IRS. In the late 80s, he became a fugitive after failing to appear for child abuse charges in California. In February of 1991, his Georgia Ridge compound was raided by federal authorities, and in July of 1991 he was finally apprehended by law enforcement in Tampa. He was returned back to Arkansas in July and was put on trial for threatening a federal judge, which he was acquitted of. He also had an case against the IRS that lasted until he was convicted of tax evasion in 1994, when he was sentenced to federal prison for 6 years. After he got out of prison in 1999, he and his churched moved their operations down to Fouke, Arkansas – near Texarkana. Eventually, his house in Fouke was raided in 2008 and he was arrested in Arizona. He went on to trial to face charges related to having under-age child brides and transporting them across state lines. The trial was extensively covered by local news media. He was eventually convicted to 175 years in prison.

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