LITTLE ROCK: State officials took into protective custody 21 children associated with an evangelical group whose founder faces federal child sex charges.

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

Authorities took three children into custody on Tuesday at the courthouse and seized the other 18 children from two vans during a traffic stop, said Julie Munsell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services.

She said she didn't know why the children were in the vans or where they were headed. She declined to elaborate on the court order, which cites allegations of neglect and physical abuse as the reason for the seizures.

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 preacher, listed in court documents by his real name, Bernie Lazar Hoffman, has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges, each of which carries a sentence of 10 years to life in prison and a fine of up to USD 250,000. He is in jail awaiting trial, which is set to begin in February.