Alamo backers bar child of ’enforcer’ from funeral

— Followers of convicted evangelist Tony Alamo blocked the daughter of the ministry’s alleged enforcer from attending her father’s funeral in Fouke.

The incident reported Wednesday by the Texarkana Gazette illustrates a rift that continues between Alamo’s loyalists and those who broke away and helped prosecutors convict Alamo of sex crimes.

Among the people 19-year-old Desiree Kolbeck said blocked her from attending the Friday service was her mother, Jennifer.

Desiree Kolbeck testified that Alamo took her as a “wife” when she was 8. Her father died as a fugitive earlier this month. Federal prosecutors say John Kolbeck paddled children until they were bloody and otherwise carried out discipline ordered by Alamo.

Alamo is serving a 175-year prison sentence for taking young girls across state lines for sex.

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