Former Pastor Set for Trial, Charged with Online Solicitation of Minor

MARSHALL � A former pastor arrested in May 2012 and accused of online solicitation of a minor is set to stand trial this month. According to Harrison County Criminal District Attorney Coke Solomon, the trial for Raymond Earl Cooper is scheduled to begin the week of May 20. KETK and the Longview News-Journal report the ex-pastor was placed on leave from the First Church of the Nazarene in Marshall following his arrest. At the time of Cooper�s arrest, Rob McDonald, district superintendent for the Church of Nazarene, said church officials consider the allegations �tragic.� McDonald said church officials would conduct their own investigation.

Cooper was arrested for allegedly soliciting a person online that he believed to be 14 years old. A warrant was issued for his arrest after the Louisiana State Police Internet Crimes against Children Task Force out of Lafayette, La., alerted the Marshall Police Department and the Texas Rangers of the activity. According to the complaint filed by Texas Ranger Jason Dudley, Hall Hutchison, a trooper with the Louisiana task force, contacted Texas authorities on April 23, saying that Cooper had exposed himself on a webcam to someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl.