Bond hearing canceled in OSU sexual battery case

BY SAMANTHA VICENT World Correspondent
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
12/19/12 at 6:02 PM

STILLWATER -- A former Oklahoma State University student will make his next court appearance in January on three sexual battery charges.

Nathan Micheal Cochran, 22, was set to appear in Payne County District Court at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday for a bond reduction hearing, but the hearing was unnecessary since Cochran posted bond soon after his initial court appearance, court records show.

Associate District Judge Katherine Thomas set Cochran's bond at $100,000 on Dec. 12. Cochran was arrested that night and made his first appearance Thursday, where Judge R.L. Hert decided to keep his bond as set until the hearing.

Cochran's next court appearance is set for 10 a.m. Jan. 7 on the preliminary hearing docket.

Cochran's charges stem from assaults reportedly committed against two male students. The students allege Cochran groped them while they were sleeping, with one saying Cochran performed various sex acts on him in a residence in Stillwater on Nov. 3, 2011. The other reported assault occurred Aug. 15 in Wentz Hall on campus, according to OSU police records.

OSU's office of student conduct investigated claims that Cochran sexually assaulted five students last month. Student conduct officials found Cochran responsible for four sexual misconduct violations.

Cochran was suspended from the university for three years, but the university did not immediately provide Cochran's name to police, citing its interest in protecting the victims' privacy under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA.

The Stillwater Police Department began its own investigation into the allegations Dec. 7 after a reporter from the campus newspaper asked for comment.

Stillwater police Capt. Randy Dickerson said Monday that detectives have spoken with at least six alleged victims and other witnesses who are reluctant to proceed with a criminal investigation. The students who came forward to police are not the same as those who took their allegations to student conduct, Dickerson said.

Associated Images:

Nathan Micheal Cochran