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	Fort Smith : Sex Offender Arrested at Alamo Site By Dave Hughes Arkansas Democrat-Gazette January 15, 2009 http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/249528/ FORT SMITH - A convicted sex offender who lived on property owned by Tony Alamo Christian Ministries went before a federal magistrate Wednesday, charged with failing to register as a sex offender. Jonathon Patrick Curry, 49, was arrested Tuesday on a warrant charging him with failing to register or update registration as a sex offender, a news release from the U.S. attorney's office in Fort Smith said. In an initial court appearance Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate James Marschewski appointed federal public defender Bruce Eddy to represent Curry. Eddy waived a probable cause hearing and a detention hearing for Curry, whom Marschewski ordered held in the Sebastian County jail pending indictment. If convicted of failing to register as a sex offender, Curry could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined up to $250,000. An affidavit submitted by FBI Special Agent Timmy K. Akins said Curry was released from a Nevada prison on Nov. 20, 2007, after serving nearly seven years on a conviction for attempted lewdness with a child under 14. Akins' affidavit shows that Curry told Akins in November that he lived in a warehouse in Fort Smith. Akins saw a room in the warehouse that was labeled "Keep Out Jon Curry's Rm." The address of the warehouse was blacked out in the affidavit but assistant U.S. attorney Chris Plumlee confirmed that the warehouse was on property owned by Alamo ministries. The organization owns a warehouse on South Fourth Street just south of downtown Fort Smith, along with 13 other warehouses, homes and businesses scattered around Fort Smith. Alamo's main complex in Fort Smith is the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries church on Windsor Drive in north Fort Smith. The day after Akins spoke with Curry, state and federal agents made a sweep of the Alamo properties in Fort Smith, taking children living on Alamo property into custody. Investigators said children living on Alamo property have been subjected to physical and sexual abuse. Plumlee said he could not comment on whether Curry had any contact with children living on Alamo property. Akins' affidavit said he saw Curry in the parking lot of the warehouse Jan. 7. On Jan. 12, an employee of the state Sex Offender Registry at the Arkansas Crime Information Center conducted a search and found that Curry had never registered in Arkansas, as required by law. The affidavit also said Nevada determined in April that Curry had failed to register as a Tier 2 sex offender there, and a warrant was issued for his arrest in June. According to Nevada law, a Tier 2 offender is one "posing a probable risk" of being a repeat offender and being a threat to the public. Outside the Juvenile Court Center in Texarkana, Alamo church members who have been protesting the removal of children from the ministry Wednesday said they knew little about Curry. Neill Payne, 76, who lives at the church complex in Fouke, said Curry was a "faithful brother, a good brother," but he couldn't offer any other information. Rose Pachatko, 56, who attends the church in Fort Smith, said that, as a single man, Curry wouldn't have been around children much. She added that the church does not tolerate people who abuse children. "If anyone did anything like that in our church, he'd be kicked out immediately," Pachatko said. Alamo's criminal defense attorney, John Wesley Hall Jr. of Little Rock, also wasn't familiar with Curry, but he noted that the church takes in "the castoffs from society." He added, "A lot of people that do those things don't want to admit it." Alamo, the 74-year-old leader of a multistate ministry with headquarters in Fouke, was arrested Sept. 25 outside a resort hotel in Flagstaff, Ariz. He faces charges in federal court of transporting a minor across state lines for sexual purposes. Information for this article was contributed by Andy Davis of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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