CLEARFIELD – A Coalport man who threatened to kill a man and was involved with the shooting of two dogs pleaded guilty in these and five additional cases Monday during sentencing court.
William Benjamin Cochran, 34, was sentenced by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to a total of 36 months to eight years in state prison.
According to the affidavit in the assault case, the incident occurred after two men arrived at a Beccaria Township residence on Sept. 22, 2019 to pick up a vehicle that had been borrowed by a woman.
One of the victims said when he got out of the Audi they arrived in, “right away people were everywhere” and began fighting with them.
They were able to get back in this car while people beat the vehicle with baseball bats and smashed out the windows.
One of the victims was pulled from the car and beaten. Cochran pushed a gun against a victim’s mouth and threatened to kill him, the man told police.
Also identified in the assault was James Potts, 19, of Fallentimber.
Police were able to collect fingerprints from the vehicle, which had damage estimated at over $8,000.
In an interview with police, Potts confirmed that Cochran and John Lawrence Wissinger, 28, of Altoona were involved in the assault, according to the complaint.
In this case, Cochran pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault for which he received 30 months to six years in state prison.
In the animal shooting case, Cochran, Potts and Joseph Brown, 23, of Fallentimber, allegedly threatened a woman at a residence on Oak Ridge Road in Jordan Township on Sept. 5, 2019, according to police.
Potts allegedly pointed a shotgun at the woman and demanded she get down on the ground. She became afraid and released two dogs for her protection.
Potts reportedly shot and killed both dogs.
A witness to the incident told police what she had seen and indicated that she was told by the defendants to “keep your mouth shut or we will hurt you and your family.”
Cochran pleaded guilty to two felony counts of conspiracy/aggravated cruelty to animals, criminal conspiracy/terroristic threats, intimidation of witness and recklessly endangering another person for which he received a concurrent sentence of 12 months to two years in state prison.
Cochran and Potts had actually been scheduled to go to trial in this case later this week, but both signed plea agreements. Potts is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
For a retail theft charge, Cochran received a consecutive sentence of six months to two years in state prison.
In the other cases, he pleaded guilty to contraband/inmate, receiving stolen property and criminal mischief for which he received concurrent sentences.
He was ordered to pay a total of almost $9,000 in restitution.