A Latrobe man was sentenced Wednesday to serve up to 10 years in prison for the rape of a 14-year-old girl.
Nicholas Cook, 23, pleaded guilty to rape, statutory sexual assault and six other related offenses in connection with accusations made by a teenager who claimed she was raped twice in 2016, one time in Latrobe and a second incident in Greensburg.
According to the court records, Cook’s accuser told police he forced her to drink alcohol and that she was unable to fight off his attack.
In court on Wednesday, Cook told Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger he accepted the prosecution’s plea bargain because it was in his best interest to do so.
Krieger ordered Cook to serve five to 10 years in prison, a sentence that will run concurrent to a longer term imposed in April 2017 after he pleaded guilty to similar charges. According to court records, Cook pleaded guilty to rape and other offenses and was sentenced seven to 16 years in a state prison followed by 10 years of probation in connection with five rape and sexual assault cases filed by state police in 2016.
In those cases, police said Cook met young girls, ages 12 to 14, at parks in Latrobe, Hempfield and Greensburg, offered them rides, gave them drugs and alcohol and invited them back to an apartment, where he sexually assaulted the teens.
