By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 39-year-old Cushing man, who was given a jury-recommended 10-year prison term in July for child sexual abuse in 2016, pleaded guilty Tuesday to setting fire to his then-wife’s car in their backyard in the 1300 block of E. Maple Street in Cushing in 2016.
When Aaron Leonard Cook was asked in court on Tuesday what he had done, he told Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler, “I burned a car up.”
In accordance with a plea bargain with the prosecution, the judge ordered Cook to pay $17,443 restitution, a $960 prosecution fee, and court costs while he serves five years of probation for third-degree arson — after he completes his prison term for child sexual abuse.
In his arson case when his then-wife was advised of a video of Cook in the backyard during the fire, she said Cook “had made statements to her about ‘getting rid of the car’ or ‘driving it into a lake,’ which she had discouraged,” according to a police affidavit.
Cushing Fire Department Investigator Jim Wilhelm had been called to a suspicious fire at 12:15 am on Sept. 8, 2016, at Cook’s residence, according to the affidavit.
Wilhelm said the fire “appeared to have been intentionally set,” the affidavit said.
Cushing Police Detective Rachel Hentges wrote in an affidavit, “Wilhelm also notified me the incident had been caught on surveillance video by a next-door neighbor’s video surveillance system.”
The fire had been reported at 12:01 am by a neighbor and at 12:04 am by Cook’s then-wife, the affidavit said.
The vehicle “was partially engulfed when the fire department arrived,” the affidavit said. The registration showed that Cook’s then-wife was the owner, with Cook as a secondary owner, the affidavit said.
Between 9:55 pm and 11:41 pm, a neighbor’s video showed an individual “travel back and forth from the residence to the area of the car and carport approximately two dozen times,” the affidavit said.
“The video showed what appeared to be nine separate flash events consistent with flames reflecting off trees, buildings and other surfaces close to the known location of the fire.
“Following the first flash event, I observed an individual walk from the area of the carport to the middle of the yard.. The individual remained in the yard for approximately 30 seconds — oriented toward the flashing and appeared to watch it,” the detective wrote in her affidavit.
“Several times after the individual walked to the rear entrance, the interior lights of the residence appeared to turn off, which indicated to investigators the individual went into the house,” the affidavit said.
At the time of his arrest on Sept. 19, 2016, Cook “denied any involvement in causing or setting the fire to his wife’s vehicle. Cook agreed the fire was intentionally set, but claimed no knowledge of who set the fire,” the affidavit said.
In his child sexual abuse case, Cook had originally stood trial in July of 2019 on a single count of lewd molestation of a 12-year-old girl to whom he was related, but that jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict so a mistrial was declared and a new trial ordered, court records show.
At his second trial this year when he was convicted, a Payne County jury recommended a 10-year prison term for child sexual abuse in December of 2016, and a concurrent 3-year prison term for lewd molestation on Jan. 1, 2017, of the girl.
On Jan. 1, 2017, the girl’s father had reported to police that earlier in the day he was told by his ex-wife and his mother that his daughter had been touched inappropriately by Cook, an affidavit said.
When the girl was interviewed at the Saville Center in Stillwater two days later, the then 12-year-old said that her father said he was going to beat up Cook “and she thought that was scary,” the affidavit said.
She said that her father told her he had to call the police “because it was the only way he knew how to keep her safe,” the affidavit said.
She said “this was the second time this sort of thing had occurred,” the affidavit said.
She said that about a week earlier, “Aaron (Cook) had stuck his hand up her shirt,” the affidavit said.
She said “Aaron does have a drinking issue. She stated he leaves several times a day to go and get beer from a local gas station.
“She stated he gets weird when he drinks and acts differently. She stated she was certain he had been drinking the first time he touched her,” the affidavit said.
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