Larry Hooker sentenced for sexual abuse, assault

Prison term of 18 to 53 years handed down

PARKERSBURG -- A man accused of sexually abusing three children and exposing himself to three more will spend at least the next 22 years in prison.

If Wood County Circuit Court Judge Jason Wharton's recommendation to deny Larry Hooker's requests "each and every time he comes up for parole" is followed, the sentence will last six decades.

Wharton sentenced Hooker, 39, in custody at the North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County, to 18 to 53 years in prison on charges of first-degree sexual abuse, second-degree sexual assault and exhibition of obscene matters to minors, charges to which he pleaded guilty in January. That sentence will run consecutively to approximately seven to eight years he has left on charges of fraudulent use of an access device and forgery of a credit card out of Cabell County.

With credit for 338 days served, that means it would be about 22 years, at the earliest, before Hooker will be eligible for release.

A 15-year-old girl who was one of the victims of Hooker's abuse addressed him before Wharton pronounced the sentence.

"I hope that you spend every last breath in jail, thinking about what you did," she said.

In addition to sexual abuse, the girl said Hooker "beat us, starved us, kicked me down stairs.

"You hurt my sisters; you broke apart my family," she said.

Hooker was arrested in March 2018 after allegedly performing a sexual act on himself in view of an unrelated 11-year-old girl outside the pool area at the Wingate Hotel in Vienna. He was later indicted on five counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian; four counts of first-degree sexual abuse; three counts of distribution or exhibition of obscene matters to minors; and one count each of second-degree sexual assault, strangulation and battery.

Court documents say Lesley Knox, 35, forced two girls related to her -- the 15-year-old who spoke at the hearing and another who was younger than 12 -- to engage in sexual activity with Hooker and watch the two of them have sex. During the victim impact statements, the girl and her father said Hooker also sexually abused a 4-year-old child. However, none of the charges in the indictment dealt with that child, Assistant Wood County Prosecutor Emily Martin said.

Fourth Circuit Public Defender's office attorney Joe McFarland described Hooker as "a regretting and remorseful individual" and said he understood no alternative sentencing would be granted. However, he asked for concurrent sentences given the substantial length of even one of the sexual abuse or assault charges.

Hooker reiterated the request to Wharton, saying, "I just want to have a life again."

Hooker contended that he loved the girls and blamed alcohol for his actions.

"I'm really sorry I destroyed everybody's lives," he said. "I got in a situation where I was drinking and didn't really understand what was going on."

Martin said the victims in the case don't have the option of having lives free of the memories and experiences Hooker inflicted on them.

"Their lives are forever made worse," she said. "Nothing about this case is what love looks like."

Although only pleading guilty to one count related to each, Hooker admitted to engaging in sexual activity with each of the older girls three to five times, Martin said.

"Those details are something that no person, let alone a child, should ever have to experience," Martin said. "They came from a man that they were supposed to be able to trust."

The girls' father said Hooker had threatened him as well as the girls and other family members.

"I don't feel that you're sorry for anything that you did," he said.

Hooker tried to respond to what the other man was saying until Wharton admonished him to be quiet.

Wharton sentenced Hooker to three years on the exhibition charge, 10 to 25 years on the sexual assault count and five to 25 years on the sexual abuse count. The other charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Lesley Knox pleaded guilty in February to two counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian. She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 26.