Ex-Pastor Sentenced for Online Solicitation of Minor

MARSHALL — A former Marshall pastor will be spending time in prison for online solicitation of a minor. A jury sentenced Raymond Earl Cooper to 10 years probation for the first count. The former pastor of First Church of Nazarene in Marshall was sentenced to two years prison time for the second count. The sentences will run concurrently. Cooper was also fined $10,000.

Cooper was arrested in May of last year 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, Louisiana 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.