Scam Artist to Be Tried in Bomb Plot
A former Sherman Oaks businessman was ordered to stand trial Wednesday on charges he plotted to blow up the Ventura County Courthouse, authorities said.
Frank Boyd Cockrell III, who is already serving 10 years in prison for bilking investors out of more than $1.4 million, was held on four counts of solicitation to commit murder following a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles Municipal Court.
An agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms testified that Cockrell hired him to blow up the courthouse in 1997, said Victoria Pipkin, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
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