LaPorte County judge rejects plea in child porn case

LAPORTE | A judge on Wednesday rejected a plea agreement for a Michigan City man facing a child pornography charge, saying the man was lying about how the images ended up on his computer.

During a hearing in LaPorte Circuit Court, Jeffrey Cooper said the images were on his computer because he was part of a group helping law enforcement. The group obtains Internet addresses of website creators to give to police, he said.

"I was just trying to be helpful," Cooper said.

Prosecutors and Cooper's defense attorney said it was the first time they had heard that claim.

Cooper then said his alleged actions produced an arrest in Oklahoma.

Judge Tom Alevizos told Cooper he didn't believe a word Cooper was saying.

"If you wanted to help law enforcement, you didn't have to download and save the files," Alevizos said. "That's exactly what you did."

Alevizos said Cooper's alleged untruths warrant a stiffer sentence than the one year in prison and one year on probation called for in the plea agreement.

Cooper, 39, now faces the maximum three-year prison sentence if convicted of Class D felony possession of child pornography.

Cooper's wife turned him in to police in August, according to court records. She told police she had become suspicious because he was using the computer for many hours each day, records say. She thought he might have been chatting with another woman online, LaPorte County Deputy Prosecutor Dave Ambers said.

When she opened a file, she discovered images and videos of naked children engaged in various sex acts, police said.

She also told police Cooper was not working and recently had quit as a student at Purdue North Central, records say.

Ambers said Cooper's "bold faced lies" indicate a high probability that Cooper will re-offend.

"He comes down here and he's scared to death of going to jail," Ambers said. "That's exactly where he needs to be."

Alevizos asked the attorneys to determine whether they plan to submit another plea or go to trail. He scheduled another hearing for Wednesday.