The operator of a Berks County nonprofit is facing criminal charges for allegedly using men who were in an addition program for unpaid work.
Kevin Kolb founded and ran Sick Recovery, a live-in sober community that promised vocal training and healthy outlets like gardening and motorbiking. While Kolb pitched the nonprofit to clients as a safe space to "turn their pain into purpose," state prosecutors said he signed the men up for construction jobs without pay and cut off their communication lines to the outside world. Kolb confiscated their identification, money and cellphones upon enrollment, according to Pennsylvania police and the attorney general's office.
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Their joint investigation revealed that Sick Recovery operated as a "for-profit construction business," despite its nonprofit classification. Men in the program took on difficult, unpaid jobs on work sites, without "any reasonable means to voluntarily exit the program." Some of that work was allegedly for Kolb's brother, Scott Kolb, who owns the construction company Service 360.
Scott will face charges of workplace misclassification, but Kevin and his wife, Krista Kolb, have tougher cases ahead. Prosecutors charged Krista with insurance fraud, tampering with public records, unsworn falsification to authorities and construction workplace misclassification. Her bail was set at $25,000 following an arraignment. Kevin is charged with involuntary servitude, tax evasion and numerous other offenses. His bail is set at $250,000.
Prosecutors further claim that Kevin used the funds he received through grants, donations and construction work for his personal expenses. Some of the men in his program, they said, fled in the middle of the night to escape servitude.
In a release, Attorney General Michelle Henry condemned the "disturbing course of conduct allegedly perpetrated by someone who posed as a helper offering a new lifestyle to people dealing with substance abuse."
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