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	More Testify against Ex-pastor in Sex Abuse By Andrew Clevenger The Charleston Gazette February 26, 2009 http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200902250849 CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two more alleged victims testified Wednesday in Kanawha Circuit Court that a Shrewsbury minister sexually molested them when they were teenagers in the 1990s. Sandy Martin Cook, 49, of Belle, faces multiple charges of third-degree sexual assault and sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian for alleged sexual misconduct with several boys while he was senior pastor of the Shrewsbury Church of God. One of the alleged victims, Michael "Andy" Lewis, said he was abused by Cook after he moved in with the minister during high school. Lewis is now a minister at the New Life Center in Cedar Grove. Another alleged victim, Michael Bradley, said he used to live in a trailer park in Shrewsbury before his family moved to Ohio in 1995. Bradley, now 28, said his stepfather had problems with drugs and alcohol and his parents fought a lot. He began attending services at the Church of God hoping that his family might find stability there, he said. Bradley began spending time with Cook, whom he described as "nice" and "helpful." This included occasional trips to McDonald's, which was a big deal to Bradley because his family couldn't afford to eat out, he said. Soon, Bradley accepted an invitation to sleep over at Cook's house, he said. One night as Bradley slept in the guest bedroom, Cook climbed into bed with him, he said. "He pulled down my pajama pants and started rubbing my genitals," Bradley said. "He went under the blankets and started performing oral sex." Cook also tried to push his head under the covers, but Bradley rolled over and pretended to be asleep, he said. Bradley said the encounter left him confused and scared. "I was 15 years old. I didn't know what was going on," he said. "I didn't know if that was the right thing or the wrong thing." After the same scenario played out during another sleepover, Bradley told his then-girlfriend Paula Farley, whose father Paul is also a minister. This led to a formal meeting with Cook, Farley and several church overseers, Bradley said. Paul Farley, pastor at the Cornerstone Church of God in Nitro, testified that he contacted church officials in 1994 after talking with Bradley. While Bradley's allegations were aired during the meeting, Bradley ultimately declined to sign a written statement, Farley said. "[His] mother did not want to put her son through the further humiliation of a church trial," he said. Kanawha County assistant prosecutors Michelle Drummond and Don Morris rested their case after Farley testified. Cook's attorney, James Cagle, who called the allegations against his client "scurrilous" during his opening statement, began his defense by showing a video deposition of a former clerk at the Shrewsbury Church of God. In the video recording, Virginia Bowe said she began working for the church around 1994. She said she knew two of Cook's accusers, Lewis and Jose Strickland, who testified Tuesday, because of their involvement in the church's youth committee. Lewis had a falling out with the Shrewsbury congregation because he thought he would become the pastor there after he moved back to West Virginia from Pennsylvania, she said. "He had it in his head that he was taking it all over, and that it was going to be his church," she said. She said both Lewis and Strickland had a reputation in the community for being dishonest. As clerk, she knew that the church sometimes helped Strickland with his bills, and he became very angry when he was told that they wouldn't give him any more money, she said. Cook's trial continues today in front of Judge Irene C. Berger. Reach Andrew Clevenger atacleven...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.
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