Victim Impact Statement of Joe McMorrow (reference case # 111185C)

My name is MM. I am a secondary victim of Aaron Cote’s sexual abuse crime. My injuries are not readily visible to the casual observer but these emotional and spiritual wounds are real and, at times, have been almost debilitating. Aaron Cote began abusing Brandon sometime in 2001 and continued to do so into 2002. In early 2002, when he was only 14, Brandon’s behavior changed in a dramatically negative way. He would run away for days at a time, dropped out of high school, and, as we eventually discovered, was self-medicating. During this time I vacillated between wondering what I was doing wrong as Brandon’s stepdad that he would behave in such a way, to resenting Brandon for his ‘bad’ behavior. It would not be until summer 2003, when Brandon disclosed his sexual abuse by Aaron Cote, that I began to realize what the real source of Brandon’s difficulties was.

So how has this crime impacted me? I have been deprived of having my stepson home for his last 3 years of high school nor watch him receive his high school diploma in a traditional ceremony. For three years my and the family’s ‘vacations’ consisted of traveling back and forth between Maryland and Orlando, Florida, to participate with and support Brandon in a treatment center. I was once a practicing Catholic who no longer attends mass because all I can think about when I see a priest is whether or not he is a sexual predator or is covering up for one. I have had to work through the depression that has come with this injury – sometimes getting up and going through the day just to be sure the family is provided for. I spent over $50,000 in out of pocket medical expenses for professional help in the aftermath of this abuse for Brandon and other members of the family. I have had to subject myself to an extensive deposition by church attorneys in order to get to the truth of Aaron Cote’s history of sexual abuse. I had to find out that Aaron Cote was exonerated of any abuse of Brandon by his superiors and assigned to another church by discovering him on the internet – over a year after Brandon reported his abuse.  I have had to live with the discovery that Aaron Cote abused others after he abused Brandon. I have had to watch Aaron Cote avoid prosecution and listen to him and his church representatives continue to deny his crimes against my son – right up to and continually throughout his criminal prosecution and conviction. I have had to keep doing my part in pursuit of holding Aaron Cote to account for his crime when all I really wanted to do was forget this ever happened. And I fear that I will carry this emotional and spiritual wound the rest of my life, and that it will never quite heal as long as I continue to hear about people like Aaron Cote, who have supposedly responded to God’s calling, perpetrating such evil on the most innocent – our children.

I will remain forever grateful to Montgomery County law enforcement, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s office, and the Circuit Court for their efforts in bringing this sexual predator to justice. Because of this conviction, children are genuinely safer.