Authorities took three children into custody Tuesday at the courthouse in Texarkana, 130 miles southwest of Little Rock. Police seized the other 18 children from two vans during a traffic stop, said Julie Munsell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services.....

On Monday, a 14-year-old girl taken by the state during the September raid testified that Alamo molested her, counted a number of young girls as his wives, and coached her and others to say they weren't touched improperly or beaten.

She said Alamo crept up behind her while she was showering, held his hand over her mouth and sexually molested her. She said Alamo warned her to keep quiet, saying if she didn't, she'd be beaten by a man who witnesses have described as Alamo's enforcer.

Alamo, 74, is charged with two counts of transporting a juvenile across state lines for sex, once in 2004 and again the following year.

The children, all younger than 18 and part of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, were taken while custody hearings were being held for six girls seized during a September raid of Alamo's compound in Fouke, in southwest Arkansas. The court must decide whether the girls should be returned to their parents or remain in state care