In case there is any doubt, you don’t have to be a member of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) for very long to be affected in very intense ways. June 15, 2011, we shared an experience at a local restaurant in Rutherfordton. It was actually an ugly exchange prompted by a present WOFF member who I had known for nineteen years. After telling of that incident, I shared a few words about Tony Nicosia. The post was titled: Revealing Incident at the Great Wall– here is the link – http://religiouscultsinfo.com/?p=4264 .

This is a brief review of a story that Tony can tell with amazing detail most every time he gets started. He and Carole Kolari came to this area in 2003 for Carole to be around her three sons who were at that point inside WOFF. She was allowed periodic visits with them in her off hours from her job. First, she and Tony lived in Kings Mountain and then in a condo near the Cleghorn Plantation golf course. Events transpired to cause two of the younger sons to move back to Chicago. Carole and Tony followed or vice versa. Anyway, in 2007, Tony and Carole found themselves back in the Chicago area.

April of 2010, Carole’s oldest son was to marry at WOFF. Carole was driven back to NC by a couple of WOFFers; their names escape me at this point. She made it back to WOFF in time to be in the wedding and this made her happy. Tony made some calls and asked to be moved back to this area in hopes to continue his friendship with Carole. An entourage from WOFF drove to Chicago to pack up and pick up Tony. Here is a quote from the previous post: “They showed up with a truck and packed most everything from the place where Tony lived. Tony was under the impression that these things would be taken back to NC for him and CK(Carole). Other things happened that weekend which are just too scary to retell here. Anyway, these things in the truck NEVER made it back to NC- according to Tony…The furniture, personal effects, insurance papers and jewelry that Tony says were his were never presented to him when he got to NC! He was put into an apartment arranged by CK’s (Carole’s) first husband and in it is furniture given to him by that first husband- GC, Sr. A bed, a chest, a sofa and some kitchen items were about the sum total of the furniture items I saw in Tony’s apartment. Where did all his stuff go?…But, for sure, Tony’s stuff is gone.”   

Well, Tony had not even begun to be a part of WOFF in May of 2010 and he was already affected beyond belief! We will leave that for another post. We move on. When Tony arrived and tried to talk to Carole they were always “guarded” and not left alone- mostly. According to an incident report filed by Tony on February 4, 2011, he retells a conversation between him and Carole where she said her medicines were changed or being withheld and she did not have access to her own credit card. This was shocking to Tony and he no doubt felt concerned.  For those who have been inside, I feel sure you are not shocked. If I remember right, he did ask someone about it but, was given a non-committal answer.

Carole had/has a medical condition which requires daily medicine. That in itself is not surprising. For those who have spent time inside WOFF, you realize some physical or mental conditions don’t get “full support” or are considered caused “by devils”. With that understanding, you may suspect that there would be a push to stop or change meds so a person “can come out from under that curse”. In my opinion, that could be true in this case. In fact, I remember at some point Tony saying he was told that the meds had been reduced to every other day instead of every day. Who authorized that and what evidence was there to support the decision?

As far as Carole not having access to her own money- I will just repeat what I have been told. Tony said Carole mentioned she did not even have money to buy a snack after church! Don’t misunderstand; at least when she came to WOFF she had income. But, apparently, she was not given full access to her own money? Why would that happen? Tony has his theory and it was colorful.

Tony’s stay within WOFF was around May 29, 2010 to October 29, 2010. This five month period contained many events that Tony retells in many descriptive terms. His WOFF-tour ended with a call from Jane during one of his physical therapy sessions at Dr. Gross’ office. He felt physically threatened as Jane said she would personally take him back to Chicago if he didn’t quit railing. Tony had many ideas how Jane could or would pull this move and he exclaimed to a couple of folks that he may need to buy a gun. That ended his rides to WOFF and what little relationship he had with Carole. A woman he had a friendship with since before 2003 was no longer allowed to contact him or answer his letters. A few months later – prompted by a letter Tony sent to Carole at WOFF, she did call him once. But, according to Tony she was not able to talk freely and/or answer his questions. He felt like the conversation was being monitored and actually, I don’t doubt it.

We have included a copy of the incident report. Here are my observations about this report. The officer taking this report was Detective Ricky McKinney. He was very patient to listen to Tony’s story from beginning to end. He made no promises except to contact Carole and request an interview. (He was also the person who helped Morgan Sample get her personal property returned.) The narrative is excluded from this copy. It is my understanding that Carole was brought to the office by Jane Caulder. She was dressed nicely. The detailed content of the interview I was not privy to. However, the end result was the case was closed and the detective could not support any basis for further investigation or to file charges. Tony was disappointed and moved on to other measures with other government officials to help his friend. The process is ongoing.

Report about Carole 02 04 2011       (press your back button to return to this post)

I would not have even considered writing this post except for recent developments. Two different survivors at two different times tell me of a service in March of 2011 where Carole had a meltdown- in the main sanctuary – labeled as very emotional and expressed her desires to go back to Chicago. If my notes are right in my calendar, this emotional meltdown was shortly after her interview with Detective McKinney. What happened to change Carole’s desire to leave? Or did she try to give signals to Detective McKinney that she wanted to leave WOFF and he missed them? We may never know.  Neither survivor could confirm that Carole was allowed to leave WOFF and visit her sons in the Chicago area. Carole has no transportation of her own as far as I know and would have to be ALLOWED to leave. Yes, in my opinion when an adult has to be ALLOWED to leave and cannot leave on their own– further investigation is needed. During 2011, there were confirmed reports that Carole suffered not one but two broken ankles. At least one was suffered on church property. One survivor seemed to think that one broken ankle was suffered in the “running around the sanctuary” part of praise and worship. I have not been able to confirm the locations of the injuries. Naturally, this would hinder someone from easily leaving the confines of WOFF. There is so much more to tell here, but, I will close for now. In my opinion, further investigation into many things about WOFF is VERY needed.

Thank you, for taking time to visit and read this blog. Please, consume the information on this site responsibly. The author is not a licensed mental health professional and encourages those that need professional help to seek it. The intent of the material is to inform and be a resource. Be sure to tell every member that you know at WOFF about this blog. There are readers at WOFF. Comments are invited from all readers, including present or former members. Polls are not scientific and no private information is gathered.

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Please, take time to read the Terms of Use for this personal blog. As mentioned, for posts written by John Huddle, any information about WOFF is from his memories and recollections as perfect as that may be or not be. Scripture references are Amplified Version unless otherwise noted. (Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation ) This is post number 389.