Bomb-Plot Evidence Allowed in Securities-Fraud Trial

VENTURA —  Facing charges that he bilked investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, Frank Boyd Cockrell II will also have to overcome evidence that he allegedly plotted to blow up the Ventura County Courthouse to avoid going to trial.

As Cockrell’s securities-fraud trial got underway Monday, Judge Vincent J. O’Neill ruled that he would allow evidence that the defendant planned to bomb the courthouse to kill Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury and as many judges and investigators as possible.

Evidence that Cockrell planned to set fire to a Ventura refinery, launch a rocket attack on the Ventura Freeway and commit other acts of mayhem will also be allowed, the judge ruled.

Cockrell, 49, faces 24 counts in this trial, including charges of tax evasion, grand theft and money-laundering.

He will face separate charges in Los Angeles County of attempted murder and solicitation to commit murder. That trial is scheduled to begin after this one ends.

The fraud case is being tried in Ventura County because several of the investors who were allegedly duped live here and because the money obtained from all the investors flowed through Ventura County bank accounts.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Aveis said the decision allowing the bombing evidence into the securities fraud trial is important to the case.

“The bombing evidence shows consciousness of guilt,” Aveis said. “It shows what kind of a guilty man he was--that he tried to blow up not only the courthouse, but also the evidence and the machinery.”

The alleged targets included Aveis, whom Cockrell said he wanted to kill, according to one of 21 tapes recorded by an undercover agent.

That too will be admitted, despite the protests of Cockrell’s attorney, Edward A. Whipple. Whipple argued that allowing that portion of the tape into the trial would put him at a disadvantage when going head-to-head against Aveis before a jury.

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“It will imbue Mr. Aveis before this self-same jury with substantial sympathy,” he said. “Mr. Aveis is in a completely different category: He is a crime victim. He will be clothed in a completely different glow than the defense counsel. That will cause his position to be considerably greater than mine.”

Throughout the morning’s hearing, the bespectacled and balding Cockrell yanked on the arm and spoke in the ear of his attorney until Whipple grew exasperated.

“While I’m trying to argue, you cannot be talking to me,” he said to Cockrell. “I’m going to get you a pencil so you can write things down.”

Cockrell was indicted two years ago by the Ventura County Grand Jury on charges of swindling investors in a bogus investment scheme. Investors believed they were buying stock in a company that sold surety bonds to minority building contractors involved with the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

But in September, the fraud case took a bizarre twist when an agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms alleged that Cockrell had tried to hire him to destroy the courthouse with a truck bomb.

Agent Charles M. Pratt had posed as an anti-government militia member and met with Cockrell numerous times at a fast-food restaurant.

During those meetings, Cockrell allegedly paid Pratt $2,000 to kidnap, rob and murder a Sherman Oaks car dealer and his wife to help finance a larger campaign of terror.

The tapes from those encounters will be admitted into evidence, Aveis said. But most of the evidence will be testimony from Pratt about things that were not on the tapes, either because the tape recorder was malfunctioning or because Cockrell had scanned him with a special device to ensure that he was not being recorded.

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Aveis called the fraud case one of the biggest white-collar-crime cases in Ventura County history.

“It is certainly the biggest white-collar-crime case where the defendant tried to blow up the courthouse,” he said.

O’Neill delayed decisions on other issues, including Cockrell’s contention that the district attorney’s office had hatched a conspiracy to kill him and destroy his business.

Cockrell alleges that Bradbury said on more than one occasion that he would have Cockrell killed.

Jury selection for the trial, which is expected to last four to eight weeks, will begin no later than early next week, Aveis said.