David B. Cook, 33, arraigned on charges of sexually abusing 7-week-old

By Dennis Yusko
Published 11:10 a.m., Monday, March 19, 2012

LAKE GEORGE — A Glens Falls man had been arrested 20 times prior to being accused of sexually abusing a 7-week-old girl, strangling the infant's mother and killing a parakeet, a Warren County judge said at the suspect's arraignment Monday.

David B. Cook, 33, pleaded not guilty to several felony charges at the 10:15 a.m. court appearance. He was represented by attorney Marc Zuckerman.

At the court hearing, Judge John Hall Jr. said Cook had been arrested 20 times in the past, convicted of eight misdemeanors and failed to appear in court three times. Warren County prosecutors released a pamphlet of information that detailed Cook's past actions and statements he allegedly made to police.

Prosecutors say Cook sexually abused a 7-week-old baby in his Smith Street home on March 3, which caused critical injuries to her genitalia, leg and head. He also assaulted the child's mother and caused the death of a bird, District Attorney Kate Hogan said Monday. Doctors recently removed the baby from the intensive care unit at Albany Medical Center, but it was too soon to tell if her injuries are lasting, Hogan said.

Last week, a Warren County grand jury returned an indictment charging Cook with first-degree assault and second-degree assault, second-degree strangulation and second-degree aggravated sexual abuse, all felonies, third-degree assault, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, overdriving, torturing and injuring animals, and criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation, all misdemeanors.

He is being held in Warren County Jail.

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7 Week-Old Girl Raped, Probably By Her Father. Mommy Aids the Perpetrator

GLENS FALLS — “A Glens Falls man was charged with three felonies late Sunday for allegedly sexually assaulting and critically injuring a 7-week-old girl, police said.

David B. Cook, 33, of Smith Street, was charged with two counts of aggravated second-degree sexual abuse and a charge of second-degree assault, Glens Falls Police Sgt. Chris Eggleston said.

The girl suffered a broken right leg, injuries to her genitalia and a possible head injury, police said. She was in critical condition at Albany Medical Center late Monday.

Cook is accused of injuring the girl, for whom he was caring at his home, sometime before late Saturday. The relationship between Cook and the child was withheld to protect the victim’s identity.”

The video clip, shows a neighbor saying the man lived in the home, and after she was born, he brought the baby to show her to the neighbor. It sounds like the victim is this man’s child.

“Police said the child’s 21-year-old mother left her in Cook’s care for two days while she stayed at a friend’s home in Saratoga Springs, and when she returned Saturday night, she noticed the child appeared injured, officials said.

In a statement Cook allegedly gave police that was filed in Glens Falls City Court, which provides a shockingly graphic outline of how Cook claims the child was injured, he is quoted as saying he told the mother over the phone Friday night that the child was hurt, but the mother was intoxicated and “did not offer to come home.”

So what else is new?

“Cook talked her out of seeking medical help Saturday night, expressing a concern that he could face charges, authorities said.

The mother instead walked from Smith Street to Glens Falls Hospital with the child Sunday morning, prompting Cook to flee on a bicycle. He was eventually located riding on Fire Road early Sunday evening.”

Charge her. Remove her parental rights and charge her with child endangerment, aiding a felon, and aggravated child abuse.

“Police said the investigation was ongoing Monday, and the mother may face charges for failing to promptly seek medical care.

“We’re still collecting evidence,” Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan said.

The mother, whose name is being withheld to protect the victim’s identify, would not discuss the case when a reporter visited her apartment Monday afternoon.

In the five-page written statement, Cook is quoted as saying the baby was injured during accidental falls twice in recent weeks.

On Friday afternoon, when he was angry because he believed the child’s mother was cheating on him, Cook drank four beers in a half-hour and told police he yanked the girl’s leg “and heard a pop” while changing a diaper.

He said injuries to the girl’s genitalia occurred as he cleaned her.

Authorities said medical experts were investigating whether the injuries match his version of events.

He told police he sent a text message to the mother early Saturday indicating he wanted to kill himself for hurting the girl, according to the statement.

The mother returned home around 10 p.m. Saturday.

When the mother awoke Sunday and said she was taking the child to the hospital, Cook “told (the mother) this is all going to come back on me,” Cook was quoted as saying. “I said that CPS was going to be involved, and it was like rape abuse or rape assault, one of the two.”

“I am very sorry for what I did,” he said at one point in the interview.

Cook was arraigned early Monday before Glens Falls Judge Richard Tarantino and was sent to Warren County Jail for lack of $100,000 cash bail or $200,000 bail bond.”

The video clip shows an interview with a psychiatrist who says that because the child is so little, ‘she won’t suffer and won’t remember.’ What an ignorant moron. What does he think, that the trauma inflicted on her mind and body just flies out the window?

Trauma, betrayal and sexual violation embeds itself in every fiber, of every cell, of the victim. It doesn’t make one ounce of difference how old the victim is when they are ripped apart and brutalized.

I am disgusted with the human race today.



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Note: The above video w/continue to play if you don't "pause" it.

Papers tell of infant abuse

Court papers say man told police he abused 7-week-old due to crying, anger

By Dennis Yusko
Updated 09:14 p.m., Monday, March 19, 2012

LAKE GEORGE — A Glens Falls man told police he sexually abused and injured a 7-week-old girl because she was crying and he was angry about a relationship with a woman, according to papers filed in Warren County Court.

David B. Cook, 33, said that while watching the baby in his Smith Street home on March 2, he yanked her foot, pushed hard on her stomach and sexually abused her, according to statements he allegedly made to police that were released by prosecutors Monday.

On Monday, District Attorney Kate Hogan said the baby was recently taken out of the intensive care unit at Albany Medical Center Hospital, but that it was too soon to tell if her injuries were lasting.

The March 2 incident caused critical injuries to the infant's genitalia, leg and head, Hogan said. The incident occurred after Cook drank four beers in a half-hour, according to court papers. The baby's mother took the child to the hospital on March 3.

Cook allegedly told police that the girl had been injured while in his care on these two other occasions: about a week after Valentine's Day, when he drank beer, became angry because the baby wouldn't stop crying and kicked a bassinet the baby was resting in, causing the child to fall and bruise her head; and in February when the baby fell off a bed in Cook's home when he walked away to turn down the heat and get a beer.

Cook also stated that he choked the baby's mother and killed a bird he owned by stepping on it with work boots, according to the court papers. "The bird was getting annoying, so I let it out of its cage so the dogs could get it, then I killed the bird," Cook wrote, according to court papers.

Cook was indicted last week. He pleaded not guilty Monday to first-degree assault and second-degree assault, second-degree strangulation and second-degree aggravated sexual abuse, all felonies, third-degree assault, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, torturing and injuring animals, and criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation, all misdemeanors.

Cook, who works as a landscaper, was represented by attorney Marc Zuckerman. After the court appearance, Hogan released the written statements Cook allegedly made to a Glens Falls detective and State Police investigator on March 4.

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Glens Falls man charged in baby attack begs the mother: ‘Stay with me’

BY DON LEHMAN -- [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] | Posted: Monday, March 19, 2012 11:02 am

QUEENSBURY -- The Glens Falls man accused of sexually assaulting and seriously injuring a 7-week-old child begged the child’s mother not to leave him as police investigated the attack, according to court documents.

Documents filed in Warren County Court on Monday show that police allowed David B. Cook to write a note to the child’s mother in which he apologized and wrote “I really didn’t mean to do it.”

“I love you with all my heart and I hope that you stay with me,” he wrote.

The mother, who was at the Glens Falls Police station at the time, responded “You told me that you would get help before and you didn’t how can I trust you now.”

Cook then responded, “You can trust me. Do you love me. Then please be there for me and the baby. Please don’t leave me. I want to be with you and the baby for the rest of life,” the records show.

The notes were filed in court Monday after Cook, 33, pleaded not guilty to a nine-count indictment that charges him with abusing the baby and her mother.
Cook said little during the 10-minute proceeding before Warren County Judge John Hall. Hall sent him to jail without bail.

Cook’s court-appointed lawyer, Marc Zuckerman, entered the not guilty plea on his behalf to charges of aggravated sexual abuse, assault and endangering the welfare of a child for injuries the girl suffered on March 2.

He also was charged with a felony count of strangulation and misdemeanor charges of criminal obstruction of breathing and assault for alleged violence toward the baby’s mother before the child was injured.

Cook also faces a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge for allegedly killing a pet bird.

Zuckerman said he had no comment on the case after the hearing.

During the arraignment, though, he asked Hall to halt a psychiatric exam that had been ordered by Glens Falls City Court.

“Right now I’d rather not have anybody speaking to my client,” Zuckerman said.

Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan said the child remained in Albany Medical Center as of Monday and is no longer being treated in the pediatric intensive care unit.

“It’s wait and see with respect to the permanency of any injuries,” she said.

The baby suffered a broken leg and injuries to her genitalia March 2 when Cook, angry that the child’s mother had gone away for two days, said he was rough with her while changing her diaper.

But the baby also suffered head injuries in the weeks before she was sexually assaulted, and may have lost some or all of her vision, officials said.

Police said Cook confessed when he was interviewed March 4, telling Glens Falls Police and State Police he was angry at the child’s mother and heard a “pop” and “crunching” when pulling her leg as he changed her diaper.

“I was pissed off because I thought that my girlfriend was cheating on me and the baby was crying,” Cook is quoted as saying.

Authorities have said they are reviewing whether the mother, whose name has not been published to protect the identity of the baby, should be charged for not promptly seeking medical care when learning of the child’s injuries March 3.

She took the baby to Glens Falls Hospital the next morning.

The mother’s court-appointed lawyer, Nikki Moreschi, attended Cook’s arraignment Monday and said her client should not be prosecuted.

“I think the indictment reflects there were two victims here,” she said.

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