Eric Cooper- The Con Man
For this post, I watched an episode of Deadline with Tamron Hall on Investigation Discovery titled ‘The Great Pretender',’ it’s season 1, episode 11. This is the case of Eric Cooper who was a con man and also have 7 different wives in 10 years, sometimes more than one at a time.
In this episode, his recent ex-wife named Wyndi Cooper was interviewed. She said she met Eric in 2008, a year after she graduated high school. She worked at a gas station in Onalaska, Texas and he came in one day. She noticed that he had a badge on his belt and he said he worked for Exxon as an oil executive. This was the first lie of many that he would tell her.
They got married not too long after they met. Wyndi said they didn't have family at their wedding and that she never even met any of his family. He told her he was estranged from his family.
He told her that he had a lot of money. She believed him until they moved into a trailer right after getting married. She started becoming suspicious and believed he probably didn't have a job, even though he got dressed nicely and went off to “work” every morning. Wyndi started to snoop around the house while Eric was gone. One day when he was out, Wydni found his computer and on it he posted nude photos of himself to a dating website. Wyndi confronted him and he became abusive.
Wyndi said she wanted to leave, but not too long after that fight she became pregnant. One day she heard a phone ringing and found it outside their house. It wasn’t his normal phone, and on it she found pictures of Eric with a 14 year old girl from their church. They were kissing. She was so disgusted as Eric was a 35 year old man. Wyndi confronted Eric and he smashed the phone and threw her down. She was 4 months pregnant at this time.
She eventually had a daughter named Stormi, but still wanted out of the marriage. She said one night she prayed that Eric would be taken away, and at the same time the mother of the 14 year old girl found out that Eric and her daughter were talking late at night. Eric was grooming her, but eventually she even turned in some of his boxers to the police.
Eric was arrested. At his sentencing he showed up in a wheelchair and said he suffered from a diabetic coma. In 2002, at another one of his sentencing’s, he also showed up in a wheelchair and said he was dying of bone cancer. Nobody believed him.
He was eventually convicted to five 99 year terms in prison.
Just a few other facts about Eric Eugene Cooper (his actual name, he had quite a few aliases though). He had been in and out of prison his whole life. He’s also been charged with credit card fraud, forgery and assault. He had also been married 7 times and fathered 4 children. Several of his wives were only teenagers when they met him. He also pretended to be a Navy pilot and even once got married in “his uniform.” He conned many women and their families out of money and properties.
I watched this episode and only Wyndi was interviewed but in one of the articles I found, a few of his other former wives were interviewed too.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I’m happy he didn’t get away with anything and will hopefully rot in prison. I feel bad for all these women and their families he conned. Luckily, he’ll never be able to hurt anyone ever again, especially these women and their children.
Sources:
https://people.com/archive/7-wives-in-10-years-vol-63-no-21/
https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2301523&page=1
Investigation Discovery: Deadline with Tamron Hall, Season 1- Episode 11 ‘The Great Pretender’
