Michael Cochran was becoming suspicious before his death
The late Michael Cochran apparently believed that his two
fraudulent businesses were bringing in millions of dollars in legitimate
government contracts, Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Hatfield told The
Register-Herald on Friday.
Michael died on Feb. 11, 2019, under circumstances that his
family said were suspicious.
On Thursday, following an investigation by West Virginia
State Police Lt. Timothy Bledsoe and Trooper Robert Hinzman, special grand
jurors indicted Cochran's wife of 19 years, 40-year-old Natalie Cochran, on a
single count of first degree murder in his death.
Hatfield said Friday that it is unlikely that Michael
participated in a $2.6 million Ponzi scheme that his wife, Natalie, had been
running with financial investments made by the couple's family, friends and
other local residents.
Instead, he said, the state's evidence shows that Michael
made luxury purchases but that he likely believed he was spending legitimate
earnings from the two businesses, Tactical Solutions Group and Technological
Management Solutions, which ostensibly provided guns to the U.S. Department of
Defense.
Neither of the businesses had completed a single government
contract, and Michael had started growing suspicious shortly before he died,
Hatfield said.
“I have no evidence to suggest that he knew about the
scheme,” said Hatfield. “Even as we wrapped up the case, as we presented to
grand jury, I had no evidence that Michael Cochran knew about the scheme that
Natalie was running.”
Originally facing 26 felony counts in the scheme, Natalie
pleaded guilty in March before U.S. District Court of Southern West Virginia
Judge Frank Volk to one count each of wire fraud and money laundering.
She is currently at Federal Correctional Institute-Hazelton
in Preston County, serving an 11-year sentence for crimes related to the Ponzi
scheme she had operated through the couple's fraudulent businesses from 2017 to
2019.
“It’s important we did this now,” Hatfield said Friday. “We
didn’t want to wait.
“We felt we had the case to present. We didn’t want to
merely wait until the expiration of her federal sentence, because that would’ve
been an undue delay in her case.”
Hatfield said that additional testimony and more physical
evidence had come to light over the past few months.
“It’s a highly complicated case so we just needed more time
to discover more of that,” Hatfield said. "A case like this takes time to
put together."
Michael's mother, Donna Bolt, and his stepfather, Eddie
Bolt, both reported in March that Natalie
— not Michael — had run the scheme. The Bolts first believed Natalie was
running a successful business operation, they reported.
Donna said Natalie had approached the couple to tell them
about her new business, which she and Michael had organized in September 2017,
according to Secretary of State's Office records.
Natalie told them that her own parents had invested and that
she wanted to earn money for the Bolts, just as she was earning it for her own
parents. She convinced the Bolts to place their retirement savings —$245,600 —
into the business, Donna reported during Natalie's March sentencing.
"She took advantage of us, because we loved her,"
Donna said. She said Michael had not asked her to invest.
As the months went by, the Bolts did not see returns on
their investment.
Donna reported that Natalie, not Michael, produced some
documents — apparently from U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, the U.S. Federal Reserve,
Bank of America and a local attorney — that showed the Bolts' quarterly
"earnings" and excuses for why they had not yet received them.
But Michael's wife reassured them that they had no concerns:
The government had frozen transactions, but the Bolts' investment was making
money, Donna said.
"Excuse after excuse," Donna summarized Natalie's
replies. "Lie, after lie, after lie."
In 2019, while investors were waiting on their money, Eddie
Bolt said Natalie had told her family and Michael's family that she had been
diagnosed with cancer. Later, she said that it was gone. Then, she said, the
cancer had returned.
Meanwhile, according to federal prosecutors, Michael and
Natalie were spending investors' money. The couple bought a 1965 Shelby Cobra
and other vehicles, jewelry, a hangar at Raleigh County Memorial Airport and
properties.
Natalie and her attorneys have challenged the idea that
Natalie alone was running the scam.
Natalie's bankruptcy attorney, Robert Dunlap, reported in
August 2019 that Michael led the business dealings.
At her sentencing hearing, Natalie also suggested that
Michael was responsible for the excessive spending.
She implied that many of her decisions had been made to
appease Michael.
"He was my everything," she said. She also
suggested he was a mercurial figure in the Cochran home.
She said that Michael had struggled with substance abuse
disorder and misuse of steroids and that the Bolts had intervened to get help
for Michael.
"He was loving one minute," Natalie said.
"(He took a) sledgehammer to the furniture, the next.
"To protect the kids, I started to get in the attitude
where I would always give in to him.
"When he had
money, money made him happy," she said. "But enough was never
enough."
She had reported earlier that Michael had been ill and that
he had been hospitalized twice in the months leading to his death.
Natalie's attorney, Rhett Johnson, said in March that the
4-H Lake Road house, where Michael became ill, was bought for Michael. He said
that Natalie cannot drive manual vehicles, but the vehicles had manual
transmissions.
"What did Natalie really get out of all this?" he
asked. "She took her family out to eat.
"She took one vacation."
He added she got a "modest amount of jewelry."
To explain the jewelry purchases, Natalie said Michael had
given her jewelry as an apology for trying to run over her with his truck.
Investors at Natalie's sentencing, however, reported that
Natalie had approached them to invest.
By early February 2019, Hatfield said, Michael's parents had
not been paid, prompting him to ask more insistent questions about the
businesses. He became suddenly ill during that time.
Hatfield declined to explain to the public how Michael had
died.
On the day he became ill, Natalie said, he had a seizure at
home. She provided care for Michael in the hours following the seizure.
Several adults came into the house during that time, including
contractors and a local couple, physician's assistant Stephanie Hamilton and
her husband, State Trooper J.D. Hamilton, both of whom were also victims of the
Ponzi scheme.
Natalie reportedly told the couple that she was providing
adequate medical care for Michael at home.
Later on Feb. 6, Natalie called local attorney Chris Davis,
the Cochrans' neighbor and family friend, to the Cochran house.
Davis, not Natalie, arranged for Michael to be transported
to Raleigh General Hospital for care, according to authorities. Michael was
later transferred to Charleston Area Medical Center.
Donna Bolt alleged that Natalie was operating the Ponzi
scheme from Michael's hospital room.
"While my precious son lay helpless in the hospital,
she was sending documents to fool us," Donna charged. "She didn't
care about anything, or anyone.
"Not even Michael, as he lay dying."
Natalie told The Register-Herald in August 2019 that she
sent Michael to Bowers Hospice House, where he died on Feb. 11.
The state medical examiner initially listed his manner of
death as "natural," which is common with hospice deaths.
Raleigh Circuit Court Judge H.L. Kirkpatrick ordered that
Michael's body be exhumed in September 2019. WVVA reported that Michael's death
certificate was changed and now lists his manner of death as
"undetermined."
Family members of Michael told local media that Natalie had
held a rush memorial service after Michael's death. His father, Michael
Cochran, did not get invited to attend.
Natalie responded in August by saying that she had acted on
Michael's wishes for a private service.
After Michael's death, Natalie awarded college scholarships
to a number of graduating seniors in Raleigh County, including her niece and
one of Michael's relatives.
Many of the students canceled existing scholarships in order
to accept the ones promised by Natalie, but none of Natalie's scholarships were
ever actually paid.
Natalie had not been charged in connection with a crime in
that case, West Virginia State Police acknowledged in September 2019.
Private investigator James Quesenberry, a member of the
private Shady Spring Middle School Baseball league, had first reported in August
2019 that Natalie had served as team treasurer from October 2018 until June
2019.
He said that financial records showed she began making
unauthorized withdrawals from the league account in December 2018. He said that
she made a higher than usual number of withdrawals from the account starting on
Feb. 5, 2019, until Feb. 25, 2019, when checks started to bounce.
In Michael's obituary, Natalie asked that mourners make
donations to Shady Spring Middle School Baseball.
During her time as treasurer, Natalie and Michael had
accused former board members of embezzlement. A State Police investigation did
not lead to arrests, and those accused by the Cochrans have since said they had
suffered embarrassment because of the allegations.
Donna and Eddie Bolt said in March that they do not believe
that Michael knew Natalie had stolen from them. They also do not believe that
he would have participated in taking their life savings and placing a financial
hardship on them at the time they were planning to retire, they said.
"We kept quiet, as Natalie tried to blame Michael for
her evilness," said Donna.
Eddie said that he loved Natalie and that he had felt proud
of her when he believed she was running a successful business. Since then, he
has chosen to forgive her but said her actions have led to devastating
financial loss for the Bolts.
"Trying to imply he had a part in stealing from his
mother and me is more untruth," Eddie Bolt said. "Michael would want
us to see that she is held accountable."
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