U.S. Citizen Sentenced For Child Sex Abuse
A U.S. citizen was sentenced thisweek to 154 years in a Costa Rican prisonfor sexually abusing children, representativesof the Judicial Branch confirmed thisweek.Scott Thomas Cochran, 39, was sentencedTuesday by the Penal Court of SanJosé for the production and distribution ofchild pornography, paying for sex withchildren and the infraction of a drug law.The sentence was reduced to 45 yearsunder a process of penalty reduction inaccordance with the Penal Process Code.Cochran was arrested in January 2003after a joint investigation by the SpecialProsecutor on Sex Crimes, child welfareadvocacy group Casa Alianza and CostaRica’s Child Welfare Office (PANI) (TT,Jan. 24, 2003).Cochran – who was sought by theInternational Police (Interpol) for similarcharges in the United States – had beenunder investigation in Costa Rica fornearly two years before he was arrested.A Costa Rican man was also sentencedto 25 years, reduced to 18, in conjunctionwith the case against Cochran.He was accused of the same crimes,minus the drug violation, and, accordingto the Judicial Branch, was responsible forbringing the children to Cochran. His sentenceis lighter because there were fewercounts of each crime against him.
You may be interested

Read this legal breakdown of Costa Rica’s Global Income Tax project
The Tico Times - January 26, 2021Among the law projects comprising Costa Rica's agreement with the International Monetary Fund is the "Global Income Tax." The project,…

Pandemic caused loss of 255 million jobs worldwide in 2020
Nina LARSON / AFP - January 26, 2021The Covid-19 pandemic caused "massive damage" to employment, and recovery in 2021 will be "slow, uneven and uncertain" if policy…

Costa Rica’s coronavirus restrictions for February 2021
Alejandro Zúñiga - January 26, 2021Costa Rican authorities on Tuesday announced the country's coronavirus measures for February 2021. The vast majority of commercial establishments can…