Cook found guilty of raping waitress after party at TN restaurant where they worked
.jpg "A 49-year-old man was convicted on charges of rape and kidnapping after he was accused of raping a waitress after a party at the restaurant where he worked as a cook, officials said.")
Prosecutors in Tennessee will push a judge for the maximum sentence against 49-year-old David Lyndel Cochran after a Knox County jury found him guilty on charges of rape and kidnapping following a three-day trial.
Cochran, the former cook at a Knoxville-area restaurant, is accused of raping a waitress after a party in 2019.
“This offender preyed upon a young woman when she was most vulnerable, but he has been held accountable thanks to the hard work of everyone involved in this case,” Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen said in a news release.
Prosecutors said they plan to ask for 37 years in prison without parole when Cochran is sentenced on May 26.
Cochran, whose bond was revoked after the verdict was announced, could not be reached for comment by McClatchy News on April 7, and information regarding his defense attorney was not immediately available.
Cochran and the waitress reportedly worked at Pero’s, an Italian restaurant in the Knoxville area. According to the district attorney’s office, the restaurant was closing its location on Emory Road where the pair worked and hosted a party for the staff after work on Aug. 25, 2019.
“The restaurant staff was given access to the bar for a celebration,” prosecutors said. “The victim was a server at the restaurant and became extremely intoxicated, vomiting and passing out in the restaurant.”
Cochran reportedly offered to take her home and carried her to his car, the district attorney’s office said. Instead, he is accused of taking her to a Super 8 motel on the same street as the restaurant and raping her.
Prosecutors said she “felt pain and discomfort” the following day but had no memory of what happened.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office started investigating and interviewing witnesses, according to the DA’s office. The victim was also sent to the Sexual Assault Center of East Tennessee for a rape kit.
Investigators linked DNA from the rape kit to Cochran, prosecutors said.
The jury found Cochran guilty on one count of aggravated rape, two counts of rape and one count of aggravated kidnapping. According to the DA’s office, he faces between 15 and 25 years in prison on the aggravated rape charge and eight to 12 years in prison for the aggravated kidnapping charge.
This story was originally published April 7, 2022 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Cook found guilty of raping waitress after party at TN restaurant where they worked."
