BishopAccountability.org
 
  Man Arrested, Charged with Violating Release

By Josh O'Gorman
Times Argus
December 19, 2009

http://www.timesargus.com/article/RH/20091219/NEWS02/912190338/0/SPORTS

Vermont -- Police arrested a Missouri man Friday as he walked into court with his newborn daughter.

Police arrested Paul J. Cool, 49, of Amity, Mo., for allegedly violating his conditions of release.

Cool pleaded innocent Dec. 1 in White River Junction District Court to three felony counts of lewd and lascivious conduct.

According to affidavits filed with the court, from 2006 and 2007, Cool allegedly repeatedly assaulted a woman in South Royalton.

The woman, who was 18 years old at the time the assaults began, told police Cool was a priest in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which since 2001 has been known as the Community of Christ, records state.

The woman said Cool told her God had spoken to him and instructed him to prepare her for marriage, affidavits state.

Cool was released Dec. 4 from Springfield prison on $25,000 bail with the conditions he not leave the state or have contact with any females younger than 18.

Friday afternoon, Hartford Police arrested Cool after he entered court carrying his daughter, who was born Tuesday morning.

Cool had come to court for a hearing to amend his conditions of release to allow him to return to Missouri and have contact with both his daughter and his 13-year-old stepdaughter.

When it came time for Cool's hearing, his attorney Catherine Clark was present, as was his wife Amy Cool and their daughter.

Cool, however, had been taken away by police minutes before.

Judge Theresa DiMauro said the court could not conduct the hearing without Cool and asked Windsor County Deputy State's Attorney Martha Neary to call Hartford Police and ask them to bring Cool back to court.

As they waited for Cool's return, Clark told DiMauro that Cool had misunderstood his conditions of release when he returned to Missouri after making bail. After realizing his mistake, Cool returned to Vermont with his pregnant wife, who gave birth Tuesday morning to their daughter.

At 4:35 p.m., after court usually closes for the day, Hartford Police brought Cool into the courtroom. Wearing a suit and pair of handcuffs, he looked on as his wife took the witness stand with their newborn daughter.

Amy Cool testified she needed Paul Cool to return to Missouri to help with the family baking business and she would be able to supervise contact between Cool and his 13-year-old stepdaughter.

Amy Cool said she would move her teen daughter out of the house if it would pave the way for Paul Cool's return.

DiMauro denied Cool's motion, noting Amy Cool was not a suitable person to supervise Paul Cool's contact with the teen daughter.

DiMauro also said it was troubling that Cool had left the state despite signing conditions of release that required him to stay.

Cool is being held in the Springfield prison.

E-mail: josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.