Spokane woman pleads guilty to molesting boy

Fri., Sept. 17, 2004

By John Craig johnc@spokesman.com

A 25-year-old Spokane woman faces up to a year in jail for sexually molesting a 14-year-old boy.

Georgia Betty Jean Cooper pleaded guilty this week to third-degree child molestation in a plea bargain in which a third-degree child-rape charge was dismissed.

Cooper faces a standard range of six to 12 months in jail when Spokane County Superior Court Judge Michael Price sentences her on Oct. 27. She will have to register as a sex offender for 10 years after serving her sentence.

The illicit sexual relationship between Cooper and a boy she occasionally hired to baby-sit her children came to light last year when he talked about it to a counselor in state juvenile jail. The boy was serving time for burglarizing Cooper’s home in the 1700 block of East Broadway.

The boy, now 15, pleaded guilty to residential burglary and first-degree criminal trespass in August last year in Juvenile Court. Later, though, he said Cooper had invited him into her home for sex when her husband came home unexpectedly.

According to court documents, the boy left his wallet behind when Cooper’s husband chased him away. He said Cooper agreed to hide the wallet, and a detective later found the wallet in a crawl space where the boy said it would be.

The detective also found a love letter the boy had written to Cooper and photos of the two of them together. She initially denied any sexual contact with the boy but, after failing a lie-detector test, she admitted mutual fondling, court documents state.

The boy told authorities he had sexual intercourse with Cooper on at least three occasions.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Patrick Johnson said in a court document that the boy said he didn’t resist the burglary and trespassing charges because he thought Cooper would come forward to exonerate him.

Juvenile Court files contain little information about the crimes the boy admitted, but indicate that his plea was part of a bargain in which several unrelated charges were dismissed.

The dismissed charges included third-degree theft for the alleged shoplifting of some camping supplies from the General Store on North Division, and charges of second-degree burglary and second-degree theft in a July 2003 incident at the Fenceman store on North Market.

The boy pleaded guilty to malicious mischief for pouring oil and antifreeze into the interiors of two vehicles at the Fenceman store.

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