Court Aide Charged With Corruption

A federal court employee was indicted Wednesday on federal charges of trying to sell U.S. District Court documents to a defendant in a criminal case, prosecutors said.

John J. Cochanes, 55, of Tijuana, a clerk in the court’s probation department, sought to sell a confidential court document for $2,000, according to the two-count indictment.

He is believed to be the first San Diego federal court staffer indicted for official corruption, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Phillip L.B. Halpern, the lead prosecutor in the case.

Cochanes is to be arraigned Friday. He was arrested Sept. 4 and remains in the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center on $50,000 bail, said Halpern.

According to U.S. Atty. William Braniff, who issued a statement announcing the indictment, Cochanes has been fired by the probation department.

The probation department prepares pre-sentence reports and other documents, all confidential, for the federal court’s judges. The judges often rely on the reports, which frequently feature the department’s independent investigations of criminal cases, in fashioning sentences.

Cochanes’ job included the preparation of official department documents, according to the indictment.

But, in late July, according to Halpern, Cochanes offered to sell a confidential department letter to John T. Buscaglia, a Holtville produce distribution manager who had pleaded guilty in March to a single felony firearms violation. He was awaiting sentencing by Judge John S. Rhoades.

The letter that supposedly was for sale was written to Rhoades about Buscaglia by another probation officer, and included other correspondence from police and federal authorities about Buscaglia’s case, Halpern said.

The offer was made through another letter, which Cochanes--using the alias John Hanes, or Cochanes without the first three letters--sent to Buscaglia on July 30, Halpern said.

On Sept. 4, Cochanes went to a downtown San Diego fast-food restaurant thinking he was going to meet Buscaglia, Halpern said. Instead, he was arrested by federal agents.

“We have no information to suggest we did not catch him at his first attempt,” Halpern said.

The indictment charges Cochanes with one count of official corruption and another of converting government property. If convicted on both counts, he could draw 25 years in prison and up to a $500,000 fine.

Buscaglia, who cooperated with authorities investigating Cochanes, was sentenced Monday to two years’ probation, Assistant U.S. Atty. Thomas C. Stahl said.

Buscaglia had pleaded guilty March 19 to selling an undercover agent a kit that could convert a semi-automatic assault rifle into a fully automatic machine gun, Stahl said.