After five days of deliberation, the jury returned to the courtroom Oct. 29 having reached a verdict on 18 of the 21 counts against former Anchorage Police Department officer Sammy Cohen. One after another the jury foreman read the verdict from the sex abuse case aloud.

"GuiltyGuiltyGuilty"

Sixteen times the foreman read the guilty verdict aloud.

Cohen, 55, an 11-year veteran of the department, was convicted of 16 charges of sexual abuse of a minor and child exploitation by a Superior Court jury. The jury acquitted him on two of the charges and told the judge they could not reach a decision on three charges.

Cohen was arrested in 2005 and charged with 10 counts of second-degree sexual abuse of his then-teenage daughter in their Eagle River home. He also faced five counts of exploiting a minor and six counts of possessing child pornography.

This is the second time Cohen had been in court to face the charges: The first ended in a mistrial before the jury heard any testimony, because the prosecution was unable to locate a key witness.

His daughter, now 23, was one of four women who testified during the trial that Cohen had sexually assaulted them. But he was only facing the charges stemming from his daughter's allegations.

The jury heard closing statements Oct. 22, when the defense attorney claimed Cohen's accusers misrepresented what happened and misunderstood his intentions.

The prosecution said Cohen's claims that he accidentally bought child pornography at a garage sale and accidentally touched a teenage girl just don't make sense.

The defense claimed he never touched the girl. As for the nude photos, defense lawyer John Cashion suggested she took them of herself.

Cashion said the witness lied on the stand, and he pointed to inconsistencies between police interviews and court testimony.

"Someone took those photos, and she certainly appears to be a willing participant ... whether she did it to herself or had a friend do it we don't know and she's not saying," Cashion said in his closing argument, according to The Associated Press.

Prosecutor John Skidmore told the jury repeatedly during closing arguments that the case boiled down to he said-she said, according to the Associated Press.

"Let me ask you, plain and simple: What are the odds? I mean, really, what are the odds you'd have all these folks come in to describe the same type of behavior?," he said. "What are the odds that (she) would tell you, 'my father took pictures of me in 2000,' and that we would find those pictures four-and-a-half years later? What are the odds we'd find those pictures just as she described them? What are the odds we would find those pictures in his home?"

Judge Michael Wolverton set sentencing for Feb. 5. Cohen will remain free on bail until then.

Reach the reporter at darrell.breese.@alaskastar.com.