Former deputy convicted of sex crime

A Cape Girardeau County jury found a former Scott County deputy sheriff guilty of a sex crime involving a minor and sentenced him to prison, but the judge in the case is deciding whether probation would be the appropriate punishment.

Jurors found Brandon Cook, 32, guilty of statutory sodomy for illegal contact with a 16-year-old boy in his police vehicle in May 2018 and suggested a two-year prison term.

However, Judge Benjamin Lewis continued the case to consider a term of probation instead.

Brandon Cook

Cook has been released on bail until formal sentencing.

Earlier, Scott County paid the boy's family $175,000 to settle a lawsuit over the matter.

Cook had been fired from police departments in two Missouri locales -- Caruthersville and Hayti -- and prior to his hiring with the Scott County Sheriff's Department, then-Scott City Mayor Ron Cummins had urged Sheriff Wes Drury to not hire him, telling the sheriff Cook had planted evidence during a traffic stop while he was a Scott City officer, according to Southeast Missourian reporting.