I Was Abused by a Corrupt Sheriff as a Kid — It Took 30 Years to Get Justice | Chris Cooke

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8 • 743 Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2026

⏱️ 110 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chris Cooke was 13 years old when he was accused of stealing a pumpkin on mischief night in Warren, New Jersey. He didn't do it. In this episode of Locked In with Ian Bick, Chris shares how that one false accusation set off a chain of events that would change his life forever — probation, juvenile detention, and the unthinkable abuse that followed at the hands of the person meant to protect him: Warren County Sheriff Edward Bullock. What started as 30 days in juvenile detention turned into years of abuse, addiction, and silence. Chris tried to report what was happening. Nobody believed him. It would take decades before the truth came out — and even longer before justice was served. _____________________________________________ #SurvivorStory #TrueCrime #Justice _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 Betrayed by the Badge — Chris Cooke's Full Story 04:00 Growing Up in a Single Parent Household and What That Left Him Vulnerable To 07:00 The Pumpkin Incident That Started Everything — How a Minor Charge Changed His Life 11:00 His First Encounters With a Juvenile Justice System That Failed Him 15:00 First Time in Detention — And the Moment the Abuse Began 20:00 How the Cycle of Probation Violations Kept Him Trapped and Exposed 27:00 How the Abuse by the Sheriff Escalated and What It Did to Him 35:00 How the Abuse Destroyed His Schooling and Turned Him Against Everything 40:00 Using Substances and Relationships to Cope With Trauma He Couldn't Name 47:00 Addiction Mental Health and the Moment He Almost Didn't Make It 53:00 Building an Adult Life While Hiding the Secret That Was Destroying Him 01:00:00 Hitting Rock Bottom — The Moment Everything Finally Had to Change 01:07:00 Admission Rehab and the First Steps Toward Actually Healing 01:14:00 Fighting Back — The Legal Battle Against Warren County That Nobody Expected Him to Win 01:20:00 Walking Into Court and Facing the System That Failed Him as a Child 01:26:00 After the Case — Why Winning Doesn't Mean the Healing Is Over 01:32:00 Coming Forward Speaking Out and What Advocacy Really Looks Like 01:38:00 What Healing and Forgiveness Actually Mean After 30 Years of Carrying This 01:44:00 The Lessons He Learned and What He Wants Every Survivor to Know _____________________________________________ To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/LockedInWithIanBicka Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	My guest today was 13 years old when he was accused of stealing a pumpkin, and what the sheriff did to him next would take 30 years to come to justice.
0:07.6	His name is Chris Cook, and he's finally being heard.
0:15.4	I grew up in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.
0:17.6	What was your upbringing like?
0:19.4	My upbringing was... It was a decent upbringing. I had a
0:23.5	single mom. I didn't have my father around. My parents got divorced young. And we lived in
0:29.5	Phillipsburg. It was me and my mom and I had a younger sister. And it was pretty typical back
0:34.5	down. We'd do a lot of fish in and running around, cutting the neighbor's grass for a couple dollars with the lawnmower and just riding our bikes being kids.
0:43.5	What do your mom do for work?
0:44.9	My mom was a waitress.
0:47.3	She really didn't have a career.
0:50.3	She did a lot of waitress in.
0:52.1	And after that, she worked in, in like fast food business and stuff.
0:56.0	And it was just basically just me and my sister.
1:00.0	You know, and I just did normal things, you know.
1:05.0	I was just a boy. I mean, running around.
1:07.0	I lived by the Delaware River in New Jersey, so we used to go down there all the time fishing,
1:13.1	just being my couple of my buddies.
1:17.8	For me, it was a pretty good life.
1:20.6	I mean, that's the life I knew, you know. And it was good.
1:23.9	I mean, my grandparents were around,
1:25.3	and I don't know. I mean, school was school. You know, it wasn't nothing crazy.
	...

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