Man Charged with Rape of Disabled Women after Bible Study

By James D. Wolf Jr.
Chicago Tribune
July 20, 2015

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-church-worker-charged-st-0718-20150717-story.html

alparaiso man has been charged with two counts of rape and three counts of sexual battery for acts that allegedly happened between him and three developmentally disabled women at a Chesterton church after Bible study meetings.

Thomas Cooperider, 23, of the 800 block of Mirmar Drive in Valparaiso, is accused of committing the acts between November 2014 and April 2015 inside Liberty Bible Church, 824 N. Calumet Ave. in Chesterton, the probable cause affidavit states.

Cooperider said in a May 8 statement to police that contact was consensual, court documents state.

Porter County Sheriff's Police Cmdr. Eric Jones became aware of the situation May 1 through an email sent by James Reeder, an Ogden Dunes police officer and Liberty Bible Church's Safety Team coordinator, according to the probable cause affidavit filed by Porter County Sheriff's Detective Brian Dziedzinski.

Reeder met with one of three of the Bible study leaders who had heard April 14 from one of the women that she had inappropriate contact with Cooperider, the affidavit states.

Although Reeder identified Cooperider as a former member and junior leader of the Bible study, John Duey, Director of Operations for Liberty Bible Church, stated in an email that Cooperider was someone who attended the study group and had no leadership position.

Cooperider began attending the church in his when he was a teenager with his family, and when the family stopped attending a few years ago, Cooperider "still participated in events and programs here," Duey said.

Duey declined to comment on the investigation but said, "We fully cooperated with the Sheriff's Department investigation," including initially contacting the Sheriff's Department.

Court documents state that the guardians of the alleged victims went to police May 4 with their daughters.

All three alleged victims said that Cooperider led them to secluded areas of the church, usually the basement, and began to touch them without permission, the probable cause affidavit states. She informed the Bible study leader of the situation, documents state.

Security videos the church gave police May 15 showed Cooperider walking to and from secluded areas of the church with the women between Jan. 20 and March 3, "consistent with each of their statements," the affidavit states.

The three women told police that Cooperider never asked permission to touch them, and they did not consent to it, Detective Dziedzinski states in the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, detectives received court documents stating that the first two women function below normal adult levels and paperwork stating the third woman has an IQ of 57.

A church pastor informed police that on May 4, he informed Cooperider that he would no longer be allowed on church property during the sheriff's investigation.

In a May 8 visit the Porter County Sheriff's Department for a statement, "Cooperider opened the interview by stating, 'Everything that did happen was consensual between adults,'" Dziedzinski stated in the affidavit.

Cooperider admitted that he knew the first two women were mentally disabled and that he realized the third was but continued sexual contact twice after that, the affidavit states.

According to a letter that Liberty Bible sent to its members, "this was an isolated instance that only affected those directly involved, late in the evening, during a weekday. This did not affect any children or occur when any children were also in the building. The alleged offender also was not an attendee of Liberty on Sunday mornings."

Cooperider faces up to 16 years in prison on each of the two Level 3 felony rape charges against him and up to two years and six months on each of the three Level 6 felony sexual battery charges against him.

James Wolf is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.