Cops: Serial stalker re-victimizes original victims, cops

Posted at: 02/02/2012 11:44 PM
By: Dan Levy

GLENS FALLS - The man who allegedly terrorized at least fifteen victims, including several area police officers and their families, was behind bars Thursday night.

Police are calling 55-year old Stephen Kolnsberg a "serial stalker" and a man "with an ax to grind". They're also saying his reign of terror is over.

Kolnsberg is a tax preparer from Malone, in Franklin County. Two years ago, while living in Queensbury, he was convicted of stalking a pair of 12-year old girls in Warren County. Now he stands accused of not only re-victimizing his original victims, but also targeting the cops who helped convict him.

When Kolnsberg was paraded into Glens Falls City Court on Thursday afternoon, he was led by police officers who are part of the law enforcement family that he's accused of targeting.

"As it turns out, COPKILLER is his e-mail address," said Lieutenant Steve Stockdale, of the Warren County Sheriff's Department. "He's also used the screen name "Death to LEO's" -- which is an acronym for law enforcement officers.

Stockdale says Kolnsberg's contempt for police is not against the law, however once he was identified as a suspect, given those screen identities, it did make it easier for them to find their man.

Back in 2009, Kolnsberg tried to lure a pair of 12-year old girls into the woods near his Queensbury home. Once an order of protection expired, police say he was right back to harassing one of those original victims -- who is now 14 -- and the girl's mother, Karen Guiseppi.

"He knows where my kids are which really hits your heart," Guiseppi says, "I worry for my kids every day. I'm glad and thankful for the Sheriff's investigators that worked so hard to pull this together."

"Unfortunately, there are people who become obsessed and start holding other people accountable for their conduct," said Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan.

Hogan says Kolnsberg set up phony Facebook accounts in Karen Guiseppi's name and then posted obscene photographs to them. In addition, he'd inundate them with travel brochures, magazines, and catalogues.

He was also allegedly targeting police officers who were involved in his original arrest, mailing a single playing car, the nine of spades, to their wives, at this home addresses.

"He has been electronically torturing a large number of law enforcement families as well as the original victim," Hogan says.

"We have seized two computers in this investigation and preliminary inquiries of those computers yielded tremendous amounts of evidence to corroborate today's charges," said Stockdale. "Hopefully it will garner future charges as well."

Kolnsberg is facing ten counts of aggravated harassment -- a misdemeanor. Believing that Kolnsberg is a flight risk, a judge set bail at $25,000 or $50,000 cash bond.

In addition, there's an order of protection prohibiting Kolnsberg from contacting any member of the Guiseppe family.

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