State Police: Michigan Man Pretending To Be Heart Surgeon Rips Off Nemacolin Resort
FARMINGTON (KDKA) -- Police are looking for a man who they say swindled the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Fayette County out of thousands of dollars.
State Police in Uniontown say 40-year-old Jeffrey Paul Cochran, originally from Michigan, ripped off the resort to the tune of about $16,000.
A warrant has been issued for his arrest on charges of theft by deception and theft of services.
Court papers say that Cochran, pretending to be a heart surgeon and visiting golf pro, spent nearly two weeks at the plush Nemacolin resort, and kept running up his tab until an employee at the resort became suspicious.
Cochran then quickly disappeared without paying a dime.
According to investigators, Cochran called Nemacolin in early May identifying himself as a Dr. Dan Reynolds of Uniontown Hospital. He told the resort to set up a house account for a doctor named Jeffrey Cochran, who was coming to town for an interview. The doctor, Cochran contended, was also a golf pro.
But, after nearly two weeks of golfing and dining at the resort, a Nemacolin employee raised a red flag when he placed a phone call to a man he believed to be Dr. Reynolds and it turned out to be Cochran's number.
Police said it was all a big sham.
Nemacolin General Manager Chris Plummer told KDKA-TV, "It's in the hands of the state police, and we hope they catch him."
A man who came into contact with Cochran when he was at Nemacolin told us Cochran was very intelligent, but was a pathological liar.
He added that Cochran was so good at play acting, he had him completely fooled.
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