Violent attacks at SEPTA station lead to jail

Kadeem Cook was such a brazen criminal that he photographed himself with a cell phone that he stole from one of three victims during an October 2009 crime spree at the Fern Rock Transportation Center.

Yesterday, the 19-year-old paid the price for it when he was sentenced to eight to 20 years in prison for the three violent armed robberies.

In the first attack, on a 22-year-old woman, Cook stole a purse containing a cell phone. He wasted no time using it, and even took a picture of himself holding a BB gun to his head.

Unfortunately for Cook, the victim's phone was programmed to send pictures to her computer, and she was able to identify him as her robber.

Cook, who spent most of his life in foster care and last lived on Champlost Avenue near 2nd Street, was also convicted of robbing a 22-year-old Temple University student.

After taking the man's backpack containing a laptop, Cook pistol-whipped the man and pushed him onto the Regional Rail tracks, said Assistant District Attorney Peter Erdely.

Cook's final attack was on a 59-year-old woman, whom he punched and pistol-whipped before trying to steal her van at the transportation center, Erdely said.

Common Pleas Judge Glenn Bronson heard from the 59-year-old woman victim before sentencing Cook, who declined to make a statement.

Cook, who had no previous arrests, had been in foster care since age 14 and had just been placed in an independent-living residence when arrested in December 2009, Erdely said.

"It's a tragedy because his background is one of foster care and DHS placement. But we are satisfied with the sentence because it takes into account that the defendant's gratuitous violence was increasing" with each attack, Erdely said.