Jury convicts police sergeant from Stoughton of misconduct

[Ian David]

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff | July 31, 2007

DEDHAM -- A Stoughton police sergeant was convicted yesterday in Norfolk Superior Court of using his police badge to aid his side job as a lawyer.

Sergeant David M. Cohen, an 18-year police veteran, was found guilty of attempted extortion, two counts of intimidating a witness, and filing a false police report. He is expected to be sentenced Aug. 27.

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A codefendant, Officer Robert Letendre, was acquitted of being an accessory in one of the cases involving Cohen and of filing false charges. The town's police chief, Manuel J. Cachopa, is expected to go to trial in October on charges that he attempted to cover up the wrongdoing.

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Cohen was acquitted of six other charges that include kidnapping and participating as a public employee to gain financial interest. The conviction was based on Cohen's harassment in 2002 of Timothy Hills, a businessman who owed one of Cohen's clients $10,000. Cohen contacted Hills to recoup the money, telling him at one point "we can either handle this through this office or my other job" as a police officer.


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