MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Dozens of women have reported encounters with a University of Wisconsin student charged with sexually assaulting an acquaintance, and officers found a black book at the man’s apartment listing women he’d met and documenting his “sexual desires,” authorities said.
Alec Cook, 20, of Edina, Minnesota, is facing nine charges, including false imprisonment and strangulation, in a case involving a female acquaintance who told investigators Cook assaulted her, choked her until she was nearly unconscious and wouldn’t let her leave his apartment.
After those charges were filed, several other women came forward with allegations against Cook, who has since been suspended from school and banned from the Madison campus. Additional charges involving those women were being prepared, Dane County Assistant District Attorney Colette Sampson said in court Monday.
A search warrant filed in Dane County this week said Madison police have also been contacted by “dozens of other females” since Cook was charged in the Oct. 12 case.
Officers searching Alec Cook’s Madison apartment found a black book with names of women he had met, Madison police investigator Grant Humerickhouse told the Star Tribune.
“The entries went on to document what he wanted to do with the females,” Humerickhouse said. “Disturbingly enough, there were statements of ‘kill’ and statements of ‘sexual’ desires.”
Cook has denied the allegations against him. His attorney, Christopher Van Wagner, said Cook has cooperated with authorities.
“Much of what has been on Facebook has been character assassination of my client,” Van Wagner told the Star Tribune. “He’s been accused of serious crimes, but the media firestorm has prompted a lot of people to apparently go back and re-examine their relationships with him.”
Van Wagner issued a statement Wednesday afternoon asking people to remember that nothing has been proven.
“Keep in mind that not everything you hear is true,” he said.
Cook is scheduled to appear Thursday in Dane County Circuit Court.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Seriously, all the problems in the world and this is the story you run. It is a local story. The police seem to be handling it well. No national signigicance. TPM is a national site. What are we missing.
“He’s been accused of serious crimes, but the media firestorm has prompted a lot of people to apparently go back and re-examine their relationships with him.”
And realize that they should have come forward sooner.
There is some clickbait here, but sexual assault and intimidation, discrimination and disrespect for women is so deeply rooted that stories like this do deserve national attention. Yes, in this case, it’s because of the number of allegations (even more than Donald Trump!), but the story is important in every case.
It is high time that we stopped dealing with sexual assault as either dirt to be swept under the rug or business as usual.
Normal men recognize and respond to indications of interest or lack of interest from the woman. Many rapists can’t or don’t react to such clues. So most women’s response may be to examine their own behaviour rather than assuming the guy is abnormal. It is important to have stories like this out there so that more women will recognize and report guys like this if they have the misfortune to come across them.