Man wanted by FBI found dead in Kentucky

The FBI couldn’t catch up with him, but a heart attack did.

A man, the FBI says, was behind numerous brutal beatings of children has died in Kentucky.

His name is John Erwin Kolbek. But when he had a heart attack in Lawrence County last week, his wife gave officials a fake name.

Now, police know he was a wanted man with a violent past in a religious cult.

He was known to the FBI as “The Enforcer” involved in a religious cult and wanted by federal agents for the savage beating he’s accused of inflicting on children and adults alike, with the use of a 6 foot long wooden stick.

John Kolbeck has kept the FBI looking for him for 2 years even appearing on America’s Most Wanted. He was found by the FBI in eastern Kentucky dead outside the small town of Blain of an apparent heart attack.

According to the Lawerence County Sheriff Department Jennifer Kolbert was contacted by her estranged husband last week. Kolbeck told police her husband called from Somerset saying he was sick, when Kolbeck’s wife called police she claimed her husband’s name was John Jones, only after he died did authorities figure out who he really was.

According to the FBI Kolbeck was the enforcer in the Tony Alamo Ministries. Alamo is currently serving 175 years in prison for elicit acts with a minor.
Kolbeck is accused fo beating members of the cult, the FBI charged him with felony battery and fleeing charges. Kolbeck is known to split time in Tennessee and Kentucky.

Jennifer Kolbeck, the estranged wife, is not wanted by the FBI, and is not expected to be charged with any crimes.

COMMENTS:

Posted by: Diana on Jan 19, 2011 at 08:33 AM
She’s not accused of anything? How about aiding and abetting a fugitive?

Posted by: Jake Location: Nicholasville on Jan 19, 2011 at 08:24 AM
Thats karma for sure. This heart attack could not have happened to a better person…..

Posted by: patty Location: nancy, ky. on Jan 19, 2011 at 08:21 AM
That`s what I call sweet justice.

Posted by: Woot Woot Location: ky on Jan 19, 2011 at 08:09 AM
Thank you Dear Lord , Now 1 down how many more to go .Hoperfully he was suffering alot just like what he put some of those people though

Posted by: Bubba Location: Berea on Jan 19, 2011 at 07:58 AM
Why would she not be charged with aiding and abedding a known fugitive.

Posted by: Steve Location: KY. on Jan 19, 2011 at 06:46 AM
If she gave a fake name for him, why isn’t she being charged????

Posted by: Anonymous on Jan 19, 2011 at 06:44 AM
how about charges for lying to FBI?

FBI Fugitive Found Dead in Eastern Kentucky

The FBI says the fugitive behind numerous brutal beatings of children and adults has died in Kentucky.

John Erwin Kolbek was what amounted to an enforcer in a religious cult. According to the FBI’s website, Kolbek administered savage beatings back in 2008 to discipline children and adults at the cult’s compound in Arkansas.

Kolbek died last Thursday of an apparent heart attack at a home in rural Lawrence County, Ky., just outside of the small town of Blaine.

Lawrence County Sheriff Garrett Roberts says Kolbek’s wife, Jennifer, was contacted by her estranged husband. Roberts says Jennifer Kolbek told police her husband called her from Somerset, Ky., saying he was sick and needed her to come get him.

Two days later, Kolbek called 911 to report her husband was not breathing. She identified herself to police as “Michelle Jones” and said her husband “John Jones” needed help.

John Kolbek died a short time later, but it wasn’t until his body was taken in for an autopsy that authorities realized he was wanted by the FBI. Roberts says authorities were able to identify Kolbek by his fingerprints.

Kolbek was the focus of a manhunt by the FBI since 2008, and was even on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted.” The FBI had an arrest warrant issued for Kolbek in Arkansas for allegations of beating two cult members.

According to the FBI, Kolbek was an “enforcer” at Tony Alamo Ministries. Alamo is currently serving a 175-year prison sentence for taking minors across state lines for sexual purposes. Witnesses testified during Alamo’s court hearings that Kolbek would severely beat members of the cult.

Kolbek had been on the run for more than two years after the FBI charged him with felony battery and fleeing charges. Roberts says it’s unlikely Kolbek had been hiding out in Kentucky this who time.

Jennifer Kolbek is not a fugitive, and police say it’s unlikely she’ll be charged with any crime.

COMMENTS POSTED ON WSAZ:

Posted by: Wendy on Jan 18, 2011 at 10:55 PM
Justice is served!!!!!

Posted by: Investigate More on Jan 18, 2011 at 10:50 PM
More investigation should be done. The talk in Blaine is that Mrs. Kolbek has frequented the stores and businesses in Blaine for a long time.

Posted by: NoFreaksHere on Jan 18, 2011 at 10:25 PM
Halleluliah! Another religious freak has finally met his maker! I sure hope he didn’t get a chance to inflict further brutality on our brethren or to promote sex with our innocent minors during his 2 years on the lamb. Even though our society doesn’t believe in “an eye for an eye”, we can depend on our Lord to handle that for which we are too weak to pursue. Way to go!

Posted by: john walsh on Jan 18, 2011 at 07:39 PM
I previewed this scumbag on my tv show AMW. I am so glad there is closure.

TV Fugitive Show To Feature Alamo Follower

John Kolbeck, [correct spelling is Kolbek] a fugitive wanted for his alleged involvement in the 2008 beating of a teenage boy who was a member of Alamo Christian Ministries, will be featured on an episode of “America’s Most Wanted” at 8 p.m. today.

The program airs locally on Fox affiliate KFTA-TV, Channel 27.
Bancorp South

Kolbek, 51, is wanted in Sebastian County for second-degree battery and is wanted by the FBI on a federal warrant alleging unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

The America’s Most Wanted segment about Kolbek has aired twice previously.

Police say Kolbek helped keep evangelist Tony Alamo’s church followers in line by brutally beating them.

Kolbek’s family belonged to the Alamo organization, and he is the father of an 8-year-old girl Alamo is said to have married.

Alamo is serving a 175-year federal prison sentence for transporting minors over state lines for sex.

Women Who Claim They Were Child Brides


Click the links below to watch videos from the show.

How One Woman Escaped Tony Alamo’s Compound

Life with Tony Alamo

Escaping Tony Alamo

OPRAH SHOW SUMMARY

Jeanne, Amy, Nikki and Desiree, four women who share a dark secret, are stepping out of the shadows to tell their stories publicly for the first time.

At first glance, Jeanne, Amy, Nikki and Desiree don’t seem to have much in common. Jeanne is a 31-year-old hotel clerk, and Amy is a 26-year-old working mom. Desiree is an 18-year-old who dreams of becoming an FBI agent, and Nikki is a 26-year-old bartender.

Despite their differences, these women are bonded by the horrors they say they experienced as children. Jeanne, Amy, Desiree and Nikki were all born into the Tony Alamo Christian Ministry, which, some say, is a cult.

In the 1980s, Alamo, a self-proclaimed prophet of God, had thousands of devoted followers in the United States, including the parents of Jeanne, Amy, Desiree and Nikki. “When Tony would say that God spoke to him, everyone believed it,” Jeanne says.

At the height of the ministry’s popularity, many followers lived in compounds, including one in Fouke, Arkansas. Outsiders had no idea what was going on beyond the barred windows, but these four women know all too well.

Ex-followers say that by the late 1990s Alamo was living in this sprawling compound with more than a dozen women, some of whom he called his “spiritual wives.” Though no legal documents were ever signed, Jeanne, Amy and Desiree say they were three of Alamo’s “wives.” But when they said their vows, they hardly qualified as women—they were still girls.
Jeanne says that when she was 15 years old Alamo, who was 59 years old and her pastor at the time, forced her to become his spiritual wife and have sex with him. Amy says Alamo made her say vows and submit to his sexual desires when she was 14.

Then, Alamo did something that reportedly shocked even his most devoted followers. Desiree says Alamo made her his youngest spiritual wife when she was just 8 years old. Desiree says Alamo then forced her to have sex with him.

Nikki says she was 15 years old when she realized Alamo planned to make her his next “wife.” Nikki escaped the compound and fled before Alamo had the chance to act.

Jeanne, Amy and Desiree say they lived as Alamo’s “wives” for years and endured abuse before they were able to leave. They eventually fled the compound and left the church that once ruled their lives.

Then, in July 2009, these four young women came face-to-face with Alamo once again. This time, in federal court. Despite pressure from family members and friends who still belong to Alamo’s church, they testified against their former leader.

A jury found Alamo guilty of transporting minors across state lines with the intent to have sex, and he’s now serving 175 years in prison.

Alamo’s attorneys are planning to appeal the case.
Many Americans have never heard of Alamo or his ministry, but Lynn LaRowe, a Texarkana Gazette reporter who’s been covering Alamo’s story for years, says he began making a name for himself in Los Angeles in the late 1960s.

“Tony Alamo said God appeared before him in his body and told him that he needed to go spread the Lord’s message or that he would surely die,” Lynn says.

In 1966, Alamo married Susan Lipowitz and established the Tony and Susan Alamo Christian Foundation. “Susan Alamo actually operated a television ministry,” Lynn says. “Tony Alamo would make cameo appearances as a gospel singer.”

Their ministry gained thousands of followers and became a huge success. Then, in 1982, Susan died of cancer. Former members say that’s when Alamo’s dark side was unleashed.

Alamo reportedly put his wife’s dead body in his dining room, and former church members say he made men, women and children pray over her corpse for almost two years. They were told their prayers would raise Susan from the dead, but when it didn’t work, a former member says Alamo blamed his faithful followers.
Over time, Alamo began to exert more control over members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministry. He turned his church it into a multimillion-dollar business, built on the backs of devoted followers.

“They spent all of their time either praying or working in some capacity for the ministry,” Lynn says. “They were completely physically, if not psychologically, as well, exhausted. So there was no time for independent thinking.”

Emboldened by his success, Alamo wasn’t afraid to share his radical views with the world. During a 2008 interview with CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, Alamo ranted against the Catholic Church and argued that the Bible implies that puberty is the age of consent.

“I don’t know when girls reach puberty. Most of them around 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,” he said during the interview. “God inseminated Mary at the age of around 10 to 12. Should we get him for having sex?”

Jeanne, Amy, Nikki and Desiree say that when they lived in Alamo’s Arkansas compound, he controlled every facet of his followers’ lives, and threatened violence and eternal damnation if they dared to disobey him. “He was the one who laid down the rules,” Desiree says.

Nikki says Alamo decided everything, from who could get a driver’s license to whom a member could marry.
Jeanne, Amy, Desiree and Nikki say that when Alamo set his sights on a young girl in his congregation, her parents couldn’t say no. In fact, some believed becoming one of his spiritual wives was an honor.

“My mom had told me the only person I was going to marry was Tony Alamo,” Amy says.

Once Alamo “married” a girl, Jeanne says he used her to fulfill his sexual desires. “Tony Alamo had up to 13 wives. About, I would say, half were minors, and he had had sex with every single one of us,” she says. “He preferred the younger ones.”

Four days after Alamo exchanged vows with Jeanne, his eighth “wife,” she says he made her have sex with him. “I did believe that God was telling him that I was supposed to have sex with him, that I was supposed to be his wife, that anything he asked of me, I was supposed to do,” she says.

When Desiree was an 8-year-old little girl who loved playing with dolls, she believed Alamo was a prophet. But, she says, she still felt that what was happening was wrong.

“I just remember Tony bringing me into his room at one point. He laid me on the bed, said the marriage vows, said ‘I do,’ got a wedding ring, and after that, what actually made it final was, instead of a marriage license, you had sex,” Desiree says. “I didn’t know about sex. I didn’t know about any of that. What kept going through my mind was: ‘How can this be right? Isn’t this wrong?’”
Despite what she’d been taught all her life, Nikki says she also felt that Alamo’s manipulation and teachings were wrong. “I thought, ‘If this is heaven and this is what’s going to get me to heaven, I’m going to have to go to hell,’” she says.

Nikki says that in 1999, after she realized she would become Alamo’s next spiritual wife, she took action. Although Alamo had taught her to fear the outside world, she found the courage inside herself to run.

One afternoon, Nikki says she fled the compound. She eluded Alamo’s security guards by running through thick brush for hours. “He sent every person out to look up and down the highways,” Nikki says. “They went through every store, every fast food place.”

After running for miles through the woods, Nikki was exhausted and terrified. Finally, she spotted a house across a field and hurried to the front door. Vince and Karen Coker, strangers who lived in the house, took a leap of faith and invited her to stay the night.

The Cokers offered Nikki a change of clothes, a warm bath and a bed to sleep in. “I remember laying in the bed. I felt a little bit safe,” Nikki says. “I thought, ‘Maybe, maybe they will really help me.’”
While staying with the Cokers, Nikki made up a story about who she was and why she was running. Vince and Karen say they didn’t believe her, but they knew she needed help. They ended up buying Nikki a bus ticket to California, where her mother, Lisa, was living.

When Nikki arrived at her mother’s house, she discovered that her mother was still being controlled by Alamo and his followers.

“I received a phone call from Tony himself,” Lisa says. “Tony told me to have [Nikki] arrested. I said, ‘Tony, I can’t do that.’”

Instead, Lisa packed up her daughter’s possessions and told her to go away. “[It was] one of the saddest moments of my entire life,” Nikki says. “She put me on the bus, and it absolutely broke my heart.”

Alamo allowed Lisa to give Nikki $50 and a bus ticket. “I went all over the country for about three months trying to find somewhere to stay,” she says.

Today, Lisa is no longer a member of Alamo’s church, and looking back, she says she should have done something to protect her daughter. “I believe I was out of my mind to let it happen like that,” Lisa says.
Though Nikki’s mother has since left the church, some members of Amy and Desiree’s families still believe Alamo is a prophet. Their mothers even testified against them in federal court.

“[My mother] hates me now, I’m sure, because I testified against him,” Amy says. “When we were sitting in the courtroom, she called me a ’stinking weasel.’”

Despite her testimony and Alamo’s conviction, Desiree says her mother is in denial about what he did to her and other young girls. “She thinks Tony is really this man of God,” Desiree says.

“So your own mother doesn’t believe you?” Oprah asks.

“No,” Desiree says. Oprah Show producers reached out to Alamo for a statement, but he never responded.

But Alamo’s church, which is still in business, sent us a message. This is part of it, verbatim.

“Tony Alamo has no secret world or child brides. He is the least secret person in the world. His church and he are open daily to the public, and he is very outspoken, as an open book. Oprah and the government media and the Roman Catholics are in conspiracy against him and his whole church.”
In April 2010, Nikki returned to Alamo’s Arkansas compound for the first time since she says she escaped. Her visit brought back many memories.

“A lot of people lost their childhood and their innocence in there,” Nikki says. “That’s what I want people to see and to realize. … Don’t be so blind. Don’t just say: ‘It’s not my business. They’re the neighbors.’ Hell was inside of there.”

If you notice something strange about a neighbor, family member or friend, Nikki encourages you to speak up.

“I don’t care if someone says, ‘It’s not your business,’” she says. “Do you know how desperately bad we needed someone to poke their nose into something that wasn’t their business? And no one did.”
Printed from Oprah.com on Wednesday, May 26, 2010

This video will be available for the next two weeks. Season 23, Episode 35

Women Who Claim They Were Child Brides

Jeanne, Amy, Nikki and Desiree, four women who share a dark secret, are stepping out of the shadows to tell their stories publicly for the first time.

At first glance, Jeanne, Amy, Nikki and Desiree don’t seem to have much in common. Jeanne is a 31-year-old hotel clerk, and Amy is a 26-year-old working mom. Desiree is an 18-year-old who dreams of becoming an FBI agent, and Nikki is a 26-year-old bartender.

Despite their differences, these women are bonded by the horrors they say they experienced as children. Jeanne, Amy, Desiree and Nikki were all born into the Tony Alamo Christian Ministry, which, some say, is a cult.

In the 1980s, Alamo, a self-proclaimed prophet of God, had thousands of devoted followers in the United States, including the parents of Jeanne, Amy, Desiree and Nikki. “When Tony would say that God spoke to him, everyone believed it,” Jeanne says.

At the height of the ministry’s popularity, many followers lived in compounds, including one in Fouke, Arkansas. Outsiders had no idea what was going on beyond the barred windows, but these four women know all too well.

Ex-followers say that by the late 1990s Alamo was living in this sprawling compound with more than a dozen women, some of whom he called his “spiritual wives.” Though no legal documents were ever signed, Jeanne, Amy and Desiree say they were three of Alamo’s “wives.” But when they said their vows, they hardly qualified as women—they were still girls.
Jeanne says that when she was 15 years old Alamo, who was 59 years old and her pastor at the time, forced her to become his spiritual wife and have sex with him. Amy says Alamo made her say vows and submit to his sexual desires when she was 14.

Then, Alamo did something that reportedly shocked even his most devoted followers. Desiree says Alamo made her his youngest spiritual wife when she was just 8 years old. Desiree says Alamo then forced her to have sex with him.

Nikki says she was 15 years old when she realized Alamo planned to make her his next “wife.” Nikki escaped the compound and fled before Alamo had the chance to act.

Jeanne, Amy and Desiree say they lived as Alamo’s “wives” for years and endured abuse before they were able to leave. They eventually fled the compound and left the church that once ruled their lives.

Then, in July 2009, these four young women came face-to-face with Alamo once again. This time, in federal court. Despite pressure from family members and friends who still belong to Alamo’s church, they testified against their former leader.

A jury found Alamo guilty of transporting minors across state lines with the intent to have sex, and he’s now serving 175 years in prison.

Alamo’s attorneys are planning to appeal the case.
Many Americans have never heard of Alamo or his ministry, but Lynn LaRowe, a Texarkana Gazette reporter who’s been covering Alamo’s story for years, says he began making a name for himself in Los Angeles in the late 1960s.

“Tony Alamo said God appeared before him in his body and told him that he needed to go spread the Lord’s message or that he would surely die,” Lynn says.

In 1966, Alamo married Susan Lipowitz and established the Tony and Susan Alamo Christian Foundation. “Susan Alamo actually operated a television ministry,” Lynn says. “Tony Alamo would make cameo appearances as a gospel singer.”

Their ministry gained thousands of followers and became a huge success. Then, in 1982, Susan died of cancer. Former members say that’s when Alamo’s dark side was unleashed.

Alamo reportedly put his wife’s dead body in his dining room, and former church members say he made men, women and children pray over her corpse for almost two years. They were told their prayers would raise Susan from the dead, but when it didn’t work, a former member says Alamo blamed his faithful followers.
Over time, Alamo began to exert more control over members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministry. He turned his church it into a multimillion-dollar business, built on the backs of devoted followers.

“They spent all of their time either praying or working in some capacity for the ministry,” Lynn says. “They were completely physically, if not psychologically, as well, exhausted. So there was no time for independent thinking.”

Emboldened by his success, Alamo wasn’t afraid to share his radical views with the world. During a 2008 interview with CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, Alamo ranted against the Catholic Church and argued that the Bible implies that puberty is the age of consent.

“I don’t know when girls reach puberty. Most of them around 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,” he said during the interview. “God inseminated Mary at the age of around 10 to 12. Should we get him for having sex?”

Jeanne, Amy, Nikki and Desiree say that when they lived in Alamo’s Arkansas compound, he controlled every facet of his followers’ lives, and threatened violence and eternal damnation if they dared to disobey him. “He was the one who laid down the rules,” Desiree says.

Nikki says Alamo decided everything, from who could get a driver’s license to whom a member could marry.
Jeanne, Amy, Desiree and Nikki say that when Alamo set his sights on a young girl in his congregation, her parents couldn’t say no. In fact, some believed becoming one of his spiritual wives was an honor.

“My mom had told me the only person I was going to marry was Tony Alamo,” Amy says.

Once Alamo “married” a girl, Jeanne says he used her to fulfill his sexual desires. “Tony Alamo had up to 13 wives. About, I would say, half were minors, and he had had sex with every single one of us,” she says. “He preferred the younger ones.”

Four days after Alamo exchanged vows with Jeanne, his eighth “wife,” she says he made her have sex with him. “I did believe that God was telling him that I was supposed to have sex with him, that I was supposed to be his wife, that anything he asked of me, I was supposed to do,” she says.

When Desiree was an 8-year-old little girl who loved playing with dolls, she believed Alamo was a prophet. But, she says, she still felt that what was happening was wrong.

“I just remember Tony bringing me into his room at one point. He laid me on the bed, said the marriage vows, said ‘I do,’ got a wedding ring, and after that, what actually made it final was, instead of a marriage license, you had sex,” Desiree says. “I didn’t know about sex. I didn’t know about any of that. What kept going through my mind was: ‘How can this be right? Isn’t this wrong?’”
Despite what she’d been taught all her life, Nikki says she also felt that Alamo’s manipulation and teachings were wrong. “I thought, ‘If this is heaven and this is what’s going to get me to heaven, I’m going to have to go to hell,’” she says.

Nikki says that in 1999, after she realized she would become Alamo’s next spiritual wife, she took action. Although Alamo had taught her to fear the outside world, she found the courage inside herself to run.

One afternoon, Nikki says she fled the compound. She eluded Alamo’s security guards by running through thick brush for hours. “He sent every person out to look up and down the highways,” Nikki says. “They went through every store, every fast food place.”

After running for miles through the woods, Nikki was exhausted and terrified. Finally, she spotted a house across a field and hurried to the front door. Vince and Karen Coker, strangers who lived in the house, took a leap of faith and invited her to stay the night.

The Cokers offered Nikki a change of clothes, a warm bath and a bed to sleep in. “I remember laying in the bed. I felt a little bit safe,” Nikki says. “I thought, ‘Maybe, maybe they will really help me.’”
While staying with the Cokers, Nikki made up a story about who she was and why she was running. Vince and Karen say they didn’t believe her, but they knew she needed help. They ended up buying Nikki a bus ticket to California, where her mother, Lisa, was living.

When Nikki arrived at her mother’s house, she discovered that her mother was still being controlled by Alamo and his followers.

“I received a phone call from Tony himself,” Lisa says. “Tony told me to have [Nikki] arrested. I said, ‘Tony, I can’t do that.’”

Instead, Lisa packed up her daughter’s possessions and told her to go away. “[It was] one of the saddest moments of my entire life,” Nikki says. “She put me on the bus, and it absolutely broke my heart.”

Alamo allowed Lisa to give Nikki $50 and a bus ticket. “I went all over the country for about three months trying to find somewhere to stay,” she says.

Today, Lisa is no longer a member of Alamo’s church, and looking back, she says she should have done something to protect her daughter. “I believe I was out of my mind to let it happen like that,” Lisa says.
Though Nikki’s mother has since left the church, some members of Amy and Desiree’s families still believe Alamo is a prophet. Their mothers even testified against them in federal court.

“[My mother] hates me now, I’m sure, because I testified against him,” Amy says. “When we were sitting in the courtroom, she called me a ’stinking weasel.’”

Despite her testimony and Alamo’s conviction, Desiree says her mother is in denial about what he did to her and other young girls. “She thinks Tony is really this man of God,” Desiree says.

“So your own mother doesn’t believe you?” Oprah asks.

“No,” Desiree says. Oprah Show producers reached out to Alamo for a statement, but he never responded.

But Alamo’s church, which is still in business, sent us a message. This is part of it, verbatim.

“Tony Alamo has no secret world or child brides. He is the least secret person in the world. His church and he are open daily to the public, and he is very outspoken, as an open book. Oprah and the government media and the Roman Catholics are in conspiracy against him and his whole church.”
In April 2010, Nikki returned to Alamo’s Arkansas compound for the first time since she says she escaped. Her visit brought back many memories.

“A lot of people lost their childhood and their innocence in there,” Nikki says. “That’s what I want people to see and to realize. … Don’t be so blind. Don’t just say: ‘It’s not my business. They’re the neighbors.’ Hell was inside of there.”

If you notice something strange about a neighbor, family member or friend, Nikki encourages you to speak up.

“I don’t care if someone says, ‘It’s not your business,’” she says. “Do you know how desperately bad we needed someone to poke their nose into something that wasn’t their business? And no one did.”
Printed from Oprah.com on Wednesday, May 26, 2010

How One Woman Escaped Tony Alamo’s Compound

Click here to watch part of the show

Living With Tony Alamo

Click here to watch the video

Watch Jeanne, Amy, Desiree and Nikki, former members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministry, look back at their lost childhoods.

Women Who Claim They Were Child Brides In The USA