BishopAccountability.org
	Ex-Pastor Convicted of Sexual Abuse By Andrew Clevenger Charleston Gazette February 28, 2009 http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200902280009 CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Sandy Martin Cook, the former pastor at Shrewsbury Church of God, looked down at the defense table and shook his head as the judge read the verdict Friday in his sex abuse trial: guilty on all counts. As Kanawha Circuit Court Judge Irene C. Berger concluded, Cook, 49, broke down and covered his eyes with his hand as he began crying. Tears also flowed in the crowded gallery, both behind Cook where his supporters sat, and behind prosecutors, where at least one of Cook's accusers sat holding hands with his wife. Three men - Michael "Andy" Lewis, Jose Strickland and Michael Bradford - testified during the four-day trial that Cook sexually abused them on numerous occasions when they attended his church as teenagers in the 1990s. The jury deliberated for just over two hours before returning guilty verdicts on multiple counts of third-degree sexual assault and sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian. Berger revoked Cook's bond and remanded him to custody to await sentencing. Outside the courtroom, Strickland, now 26, said he was relieved that someone else believed his story of repeated sexual abuse at the hands of a man he viewed as a father figure. "This is not something that I wanted to admit to myself, let alone someone else," he said. Strickland said that he didn't fully grasp how hard it would be to testify when he decided to come forward with his decade-old allegations in August 2007. When he took the witness stand, he tried to stay strong, and answer the often sexually explicit questions directly and truthfully, he said. "It was quite an endeavor, trying not to let my emotions get in the way of the right answer," he said. Even if Cook avoids a lengthy prison sentence - and he could spend the rest of his life behind bars - he will have to register as a sex offender, which will allow parents to be alert to the presence of a sexual predator, said Strickland's wife, Misty. "My kids do not go out of the house unsupervised. Ever. Ever," Jose Strickland said. Lewis, his eyes red and his face flushed, declined to answer questions as he left the courtroom. His wife and two friends hugged him in the hallway, holding the embrace for a long time. Defense attorney James Cagle called witness after witness who vouched for Cook and said the victims had reputations in the community for not being truthful. When he testified Thursday, Cook suggested that Lewis, who is now the pastor at New Life Center in Cedar Grove, was bitter and resentful because Lewis wanted to take over the Shrewsbury church. Cook categorically denied ever having any sexual contact with his three accusers. Kanawha County assistant prosecutors Michelle Drummond and Don Morris maintained that Cook used his position as pastor to prey upon young boys from struggling families that lived in a trailer park near the church. All three victims gave sexually explicit testimony about exactly how Cook had molested them. Bradley also testified that he had come forward in 1994 and made allegations of abuse by Cook to Paul Farley, his then-girlfriend's father who also is a Church of God minister. Farley, who acknowledged that he has been friends with Cook for years, corroborated Bradley's account. While Bradley and his parents did meet with church officials in 1994, the allegations did not go forward because Bradley's mother wanted to spare him the added humiliation of a church trial, Farley said. Roughly six months later, Cook allowed Lewis, then 15 years old, to move in with him and his mother in a double-wide trailer that served as the parsonage, Morris noted. Lewis lived with Cook until the two men married their wives in a joint ceremony in December 1999. Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.