‘You’re a problem.’ Boise man sentenced after string of armed robberies
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Judge sentenced Adam Cook to life in prison with 40-year parole minimum.
- Cook pleaded guilty to robbery in plea deal that dropped nine other charges.
- Officers shot Cook after he tried to flee following his final robbery.
On Friday, a judge told Adam Cook he’d run out of second chances.
Fourth District Judge James Cawthon sentenced Cook — who pleaded guilty to one count of robbery in a deal that dropped a slew of other charges related to a string of armed robberies last September — to life in prison. The 41-year-old will have to spend at least 40 of those years incarcerated before he is even eligible for parole.
Cawthon acknowledged Cook’s troubled upbringing, involving abuse, family dysfunction and a heroin addiction. But he argued that the robberies were just one episode in a long string of dangerous behavior that posed a risk to the community. Cook, Cawthon said, had failed to take advantage of chances to turn his life around during previous stints incarcerated — and once he was released from jail or prison in those instances, his behavior did not improve.
“You are not just a multiple-felony offender, but a felony offender who in committing crimes puts this community, or whatever community you’re in, at great risk,” Cawthon said. “And I don’t just mean the risk that you’re going to commit a crime and somebody’s going to be a victim. I mean death.”
Cook was apprehended after being shot in September by Boise Police Department officers after authorities said he held up four businesses in a 10-day span.
He accepted a plea bargain with the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office in April. In exchange for admitting that he robbed the adult store Adam & Eve on Fairview Avenue in Boise, the state agreed to drop nine other charges against him, which were related to three robberies and trying to elude police officers.
Though Cook’s plea deal eliminated so many charges, Cawthon explained in April that he could still face a life sentence because under state law, robbery carries a minimum of five years but also can be punishable by life in prison.
On Friday, Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Katelyn Farley sought that harsh sentence. In a presentation about his robberies that included footage from inside the stores, she argued that Cook’s crimes were a premeditated effort to fund his drug addiction, rather than an act of desperation to support his family, as he had claimed.
Farley also highlighted Cook’s reckless behavior surrounding the robberies, including driving 100 mph into oncoming traffic on Boise’s Ustick Road in an effort to elude police, “carelessly and callously putting the public at risk,” she said.
The judge told Cook, “You’re a problem.”
Cook apprehended after Treasure Valley robberies
Cook was accused of executing a string of robberies in the Boise area from Sept. 15 to Sept. 24.
On Sept. 15, Cook held an employee at a Jersey Mike’s on Fairview Avenue at gunpoint, demanding money from the store’s safe, according to court filings. He then stole the woman’s car and fled the scene, police said.
Four days later, Cook popped up in Nampa at the Boba Stop on 12th Avenue, demanding money from the employee, court records showed. Then, on Sept. 21, police said he robbed a Subway off of Overland Road in Boise as the staff member was closing up the restaurant for the night.
At around 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 24, he entered Adam & Eve and demanded money from the register from two employees, and then fled the business, the filings showed. The Boise Police Department identified Cook after a short vehicle pursuit, and later found his car near Cole and Ustick roads, according to a news release.
A bystander flagged down an officer after they saw someone running, and police said they watched Cook jump a fence into the backyard of a home on North Redway Road. Police set up a perimeter, and while they attempted to apprehend him, “an officer-involved shooting occurred,” a news release said at the time.
But much of the discussion on Friday centered not on the details of those robberies, but on other troubling behaviors, including repeated lies.
Cook’s defense attorney acknowledged that “his first instinct is to lie,” but called this a learned behavior for self-preservation following his troubled and traumatic upbringing, including sexual abuse at the hands of his older brother. The lying is an effort to “avoid appearing weak,” she said.
Cook has spent 18 years — most of his adult life — behind bars, and struggles to function outside of that environment, she said. She argued that he was gradually improving and deserved more chances at rehabilitation.
“He has, I’m going to say, reacquainted himself with the truth as best as he can,” she said. “A lot of that has been an absolute struggle for him.”
In a statement before the court, Cook acknowledged his mistakes and said he knew he needed help managing his mental health.
“I’m not asking you to just slap me on the wrist,” he told Cawthon. “I am not asking for that, but I am asking for help. And in the world I’ve been in, to ask for help is to show weakness, and weakness is taken advantage of. I hope you can appreciate the position I put myself in just to ask for help.”
External investigation into Cook’s shooting by police
Friday’s sentencing, alongside court records, also revealed previously unknown details about the circumstances that led officers to shoot Cook.
The Boise Police Department at the time of the incident declined to answer the Idaho Statesman’s question about why officers fired their weapons. But filings submitted by the prosecution alleged that when officers attempted to apprehend Cook, he pointed his arms forward like he had a gun, and was in a “shooter’s stance.”
That’s when Cpl. Luis Gutierrez and Officer John Jayne opened fire, striking Cook three times. He still didn’t comply with the officers’ commands, the filing said, and because police believed he was armed, they used a K-9 to take him into custody.
The dog grabbed Cook “by the neck and (dragged) him through the yard away from where law enforcement thought the gun was,” according to the filing.
Officers provided medical care until paramedics arrived and took him to the hospital.
Cook was initially scheduled to face a 12-person jury in late April at trial before accepting the plea deal.
If he had gone to trial, Farley and Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Nathan MaComb, in a motion filed in March, asked Cawthon to bar Cook’s attorney from presenting any evidence about the way his client was arrested — including evidence that he was shot by officers.
It “is not relevant,” according to the filing. “Any attempt at introducing the evidence of the defendant’s injuries or police actions in apprehending the defendant would not provide a defense to the string of robberies.
“This entire area of inquiry would instead be a red herring to garner sympathy for the defendant, given the injuries that he sustained.”
This was one of six police shootings involving Boise officers in 2024, according to a database maintained by the Statesman. So far this year, the Boise Police Department has not been involved in a police shooting.
The Meridian Police Department was asked to lead the Critical Incident Task Force investigation into Cook’s shooting, and the case was handed over to the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Prosecutor Matthew Fredback will review the investigation and determine whether the officers were justified in using lethal force.
This story was originally published June 14, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
