Crime & Safety
ER Doc Arrested for Child Sex Battery
Dr. Brian Cook, who runs the Emergency Room at Palms of Pasadena Hospital, faces three counts of sexual battery against a teenage boy.
The doctor who runs Emergency Care at Palms of Pasadena Hospital faces three charges of sexual battery against a minor, with investigators saying Friday that there may be more victims.
Dr. Brian Webster Cook, 50, of Indian Rocks Beach was arrested after 10 p.m. Friday night. Detectives with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said that Cook was cooperative and admitted to the allegations. The victim is a teenage boy who was in Cook's care but not related to him.
Cook is employed as the physician in charge of Emergency Care at Palms of
Pasadena Hospital. He is former medical director at Morton Plant Hospital's
emergency medical facility.
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He also owns two walk-in emergency medical clinics, called Statmed Quality Clinics, which are located in Clearwater and Largo.
Detectives believe there may be more victims, and ask that anyone with any
information please call the Pinellas County Sheriff's Crimes Against Children
Unit, at 727-582-6200.
Detectives described the victim as a teenage boy who was in Cook's care on multiple occasions between 2009 and 2011 when the child's mother was unable to take care of him. Investigators allege that the sexual activity took place in Pinellas County.
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Detectives said that when Cook was confronted with these allegations, he admitted to the sexual activity. Florida public records law prohibits the
release of the victim's name, or the identity of the reporting individual.
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