Man sentenced in kidnappings

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By the Lincoln Journal Star

Lancaster County District Judge Earl Witthoff sentenced Sean Cockson to 33 to 50 years in prison Tuesday on charges arising from the 2005 kidnapping of his former girlfriend, her mother and a friend.

Cockson, 21, of Lincoln, must serve half the minimum end of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Authorities arrested Cockson in August after he detained his former girlfriend and drove her to Missouri.

The woman later told authorities Cockson just “snapped” and told her he was off his medication. Cockson, who had spent part of his custody at the Lincoln Regional Center, suffers from a mental illness.

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Cockson

Cockson

Following the August incident, authorities transferred Cockson back to Lincoln and held him in the Lancaster County Jail, but he bonded out in October. The second incident, involving the woman, her mother and a friend of the woman, occurred a few days later.

Cockson, carrying a 9-inch knife, entered the woman’s home through an unlocked door and tied her to a chair.

He also forced the woman’s mother and the friend into a closet. Police learned of the incident through a cell phone call placed by the friend from the closet.

Cockson released the mother shortly after officers arrived. He released the other two women and surrendered himself early the next morning.

Suzy Kent, Cockson’s mother, declined comment after the sentencing.

His attorney, deputy Lancaster County Public Defender Joe Nigro, wanted Witthoff to sentence Cockson to probation, or set the minimum end of the prison sentence at a low number of years.

The stout sentence imposed by the judge might reflect the traumatizing effect the kidnappings have apparently had on the women.

That trauma was expressed in written statements to Witthoff from the women, none of whom attended the sentencing.