By Cheryl Caswell
Daily Mail
February 25, 2009
http://www.dailymail.com/News/200902240541
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| Sandy Martin Cook, a former youth pastor, is accused of several counts of sexual abuse. |
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The former pastor of Shrewsbury Church of God shook his head as first a prosecutor and then an alleged victim detailed sexual acts he is accused of performing on three boys in the 1990s.
Sandy Martin Cook, 50, of Belle is on trial for committing those crimes against the boys, who were then between the ages of 12 and 17.
One of the alleged victims, Jose Strickland, 26, of Ripley was the first to testify Tuesday against the minister.
He talked of the attention the pastor paid to him.
"At the time I thought it was a good thing," Strickland said. "I needed someone to look up to and use as a role model."
That attention began with rides home from church in cold weather and meals at McDonalds when he was 12 years old, Strickland said. It progressed to sexual activity, including masturbation, oral and anal sex, he said.
"I did not realize it was wrong," Strickland said. "I thought that was the way a father was supposed to teach a son. I considered him to be a great man of God at that time."
Strickland said his own father died when he was 7, and he lived alone with his mother. He told the jury he often spent nights with Cook at the parsonage. Many of the alleged acts occurred there, he said, when Cook would get into bed with him.
Strickland said Cook warned him to keep the sex a secret. He said he decided to come forward eight years later after watching his children playing on the beach.
"I knew something had to be said and something had to be done about it," Strickland testified, saying he went to a State Police trooper in Glasgow in August 2007. "There's no reason for this to be done to another child."
After Strickland took his story to police, other males came forward with similar allegations. The formal charges against Cook relate to sexual abuse and assault against three of them - Strickland, Michael Bradley and Michael Lewis. Lewis is now pastor of New Life Center Church in Cedar Grove.
Cook's attorney, James Cagle, told the jury in his opening statement that he was proud to represent the pastor and would prove that none of the accusations were true.
"Just because you say it doesn't make it so," Cagle said.
He called the allegations lies.
"He is accused of vile and despicable crimes," Cagle said. "And he totally denies it. And they will be questioned each time they make these scurrilous accusations on the witness stand."
Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Drummond told jurors in detail about the sexual acts represented in the indictment. She said, "Michael Lewis was threatened that the church would crumble if he didn't allow this to occur. And Sandy Cook threatened to kill himself if he told."
Cagle said Cook would take the witness stand in his own defense during the trial, which is expected to last a week.
Contact writer Cheryl Caswell at cher...@dailymail.com or 304-348-4832.
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