Ex-Officer Who Faked Diploma Should Lose License, Judge Says

September 22, 1998

This is another in the series of articles published in the Dallas Morning News About Marcus Cook. Cook owns the Texas Police K9 Assoc. If you want an interesting read, go to the article section on my web site and read the other articles about this guy. This is (WAS) a bad cop.

An administrative law judge has recommended that the law enforcement license of a former Lake Dallas police sergeant be revoked because he submitted a faked diploma and transcript to prove his education.

Marcus Cook resigned from his police job in December 1997 after the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Education began investigating his background. He could not be reached for comment Monday.

The commission is scheduled to consider Judge Bill Ehret's finding at its Dec. 10-11 meeting in Huntsville. The agency's staff brought the case against Mr. Cook in a July hearing.

Assistant State Attorney General Raymond Winter, representing the law enforcement commission, said the agency would not comment on the judge's report.

"It speaks for itself", he said.

The documents in question include a purposed diploma from North Mesquite High School and an alleged transcript of high school equivalence work from the "Belvins Institute and Independent Study Program."

The diploma was submitted to the commission in 1993 along with Mr. Cook's application to become a law enforcement officer. The transcript was submitted to the commission after it began its investigation.

Mr. Cook said at the hearing that the diploma was intended to show that he completed a course of study like that prescribed for north Mesquite High and that he didn't fake any documents. Judge Ehret found that neither document was produced by an educational institute. He noted that the alleged transcript and a letter sent by Mr. Cook to the commission misspelled the word college as "collage."

Denton County prosecutors in recent months have dismissed several criminal cases in which Mr. Cook was the only state witness because of concerns about his credibility.