Spotlight on abuse: Episcopal priest John C. Cochrane

Episcopal priest John C. Cochrane was arrested twice in 2001 for soliciting sex while HIV positive. Cochrane tested positive for HIV in 1986, and admitted after his first arrest that he continued to engage in public sex and solicitation for 15 years before his arrests while he was a priest at Saint Anne’s Episcopal Church in West Chester, Ohio (1980-1994), the Church of Lord of Peace, Cincinnati and Saint Francis’s Episcopal Church in Springboro, Ohio, all parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio. At the time, soliciting for prostitution after a positive HIV test was a third-degree felony, and loitering to engage in prostitution after a positive HIV test was a fifth-degree felony. After the second arrest, Episcopal Bishop Herbert Thompson said “I will decide Cochrane’s future in the diocese.” The General Seminary graduate Cochrane was a member of the Anglo-Catholic Order of Saint Luke for Healing Prayer. Cochrane pleaded no contest and was fined $150.00 in addition to voluntarily resigning from the Episcopal priesthood. He was also ordered to perform community service and receive counseling.