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March 31, 2005
Doctor pleads guilty in sex abuse of teens
One of Dr. Cris Wayne Cole's two teenage victims told a Mobile County judge Tuesday that he met his abuser in church and was informed by the pediatrician during a series of sexual encounters that God approved of their conduct.
Later, the teenager told Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas, the youngster asked Cole why he sodomized him.
"This is a way of expressing love to my little brothers," the teenager said Cole replied.
Tuesday, nearly a year after his arrest amid allegations of sexually abusing the two boys, it appeared that Cole and his prosecutors had come to an agreement about punishment in exchange for three guilty pleas, although Thomas did not immediately agree to the deal.
It was unclear Tuesday whether Thomas will accept the recommendation stemming from the plea agreement. He has been known occasionally to balk at some agreements.
"I think the recommendation of the state will receive favorable consideration," Cole's attorney, Don Briskman, said outside court.
Assistant District Attorney Barbie Francez said under the agreement worked out over several weeks, the 37-year-old pediatrician faces two 20-year sentences in exchange for pleading guilty to two second-degree sodomy charges. The sentences would be combined and suspended, with Cole made to serve five years in prison.
In return for another plea of guilty to possession of obscene material, Cole would be given a 10-year suspended sentence, with three years to serve, Francez said.
The three sentences would be served concurrently.
Since Cole has been in jail since last May, he would be looking at about four more years of incarceration.
Cole, a former medical director with the University South Alabama's Children's & Women's Hospital, had been facing eight counts of second-degree sodomy and the one count of possession of obscene material.
At the request of the defense, Thomas ordered a pre-sentencing investigation. He said he would sentence the doctor in mid-April.
The two boys involved in the case were each about 15 at the time of the abuse.
One of the victims, now 23, did not appear in court Tuesday.
The younger victim, now about 16, told the judge that their relationship became sexual after many above-board encounters in which Cole encouraged educational and cultural pursuits. After an athletic workout, the doctor offered the teen a massage.
The young man told the judge that he felt betrayed, that he had been hurt "in a way no child is meant to hurt."
He asked Thomas to "make justice be brought to this man."
Briskman pointed out that it was Cole who first came forward and implicated himself with the teens.
According to earlier reports, Cole resigned his position at the hospital last May after failing to pass medical board exams.
After the resignation, hospital officials found pornography during a routine clearing of his computers, according to reports.
Confronted with the evidence on his computer, Cole told authorities, apparently on his own, about the encounters with the teenagers.
One of the incidents occurred during a church-sponsored trip in the late 1990s, according to previous news accounts.
Just before his arrest, according to those reports, Cole had planned on taking the younger teen with him on a missionary trip to Brazil.
Posted by Nealus at March 31, 2005 10:41 AM
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