Man who sexually touched little girls in church sentenced to prison

By John S. Hausman
MLive
October 6, 2015

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2015/10/man_who_sexually_touched_littl.html

Matthew James Vanderkooi

MUSKEGON, MI – Matthew James Vanderkooi is headed to state prison for sexually fondling three little girls, two of them in church.

Muskegon County Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks on Monday, Oct. 5, sentenced Vanderkooi, 33, of Laketon Township to three years and 10 months to 15 years in prison for three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. VanderKooi also got 110 days in jail, already served, for resisting and obstructing police – running away when police came to arrest him.

Vanderkooi also must submit to lifetime electronic monitoring and must register as a sex offender.

Vanderkooi was arrested June 17. He was charged with sexually touching an 8-year-old girl who was a friend of the family and two young sisters, both under 13 years old.

In the case of the sisters, prosecutors said Vanderkooi chauffeured them to church  on Sundays and would sexually touch them both, in various locations including the church basement.

In the 8-year-old's case, Vanderkooi was charged with touching her under her shirt and reaching his hand into her pants.

"He was a victim himself as a child of sexual abuse," Vanderkooi's attorney, John M. Danian, told the judge before sentencing. He asked Hicks to take that into account in the sentence.

Vanderkooi repeated the claim when he spoke briefly before sentencing.

It didn't cause Hicks to go below the 46-month minimum-sentence cap he had previously committed to before Vanderkooi pleaded guilty as charged Aug. 26.

But the judge did note that he'd seen similar situations before, of child molestation victims repeating the crimes after they grow up. "Unfortunately the cycle of sex crimes goes on," Hicks said.

Assistant Muskegon County Prosecutor Christina  E.Johnson called the case "a disturbing set of facts. ... He was in a position of trust with these families. They trusted that their children would be safe, and they were not safe with the defendant."

The resisting and obstructing case stemmed from his arrest in Norton Shores by Muskegon County Sheriff's Office investigators.

When deputies on June 17 came to Lake Forest Apartments to arrest Vanderkooi, he fled on foot and out of sight. It took 13 police officers and a police dog to locate him.