Pennsylvania

Fake Doctor Leaves Pa. Hotel Footing the Bill

Authorities in Nebraska and Pennsylvania have been seeking a man suspected of posing as a doctor and running up big, unpaid bills at hotels.

Nebraska court records say Jeffrey Cochran, 40, is charged in an arrest warrant with theft. Pennsylvania court records show two felony theft charges. Neither record lists an attorney for Cochran.

An affidavit filed in support of the Nebraska arrest warrant says Cochran, of Scottville, Michigan, checked into a Lincoln hotel on Dec. 26, saying he was Jay Cochran, a doctor on business at a local hospital and that the hospital would be paying for his lodging. The hotel staff gave him a room and didn't verify his story, the Lincoln Journal Star said. Cochran checked out 47 days later, leaving a bill of nearly $3,200.

Hotel workers called the hospital and learned only then that no doctor by the name of Jay Cochran was working there and that the hospital wouldn't be paying the bill.

The court affidavit says a woman was seen picking up Cochran and that an investigator traced the vehicle to Cochran's estranged wife. She told the investigator that her husband, Jeffrey Cochran, had the car.

In May, according to a Pennsylvania State Police affidavit of probable cause, Cochran checked into a room at the Falling Rock Hotel at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, about 60 miles south of Pittsburgh. The affidavit says Cochran had called the resort earlier and identified himself as a Uniontown Hospital doctor, Dan Renyolds, who wanted to set up a resort account for a heart surgeon who also was a golf pro.

Using his own name, Cochran arrived on May 15 and identified himself as the heart surgeon, according to The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He was given a room at the Falling Rock that cost more than $500 a night. The police affidavit says Cochran ran up a bill of more than $16,100 before leaving out a back door at the hotel on May 28.

A Uniontown Hospital spokesman told the Tribune-Review that no doctor by the name of Dan Renyolds or Dan Reynolds practiced at the hospital.

A resort spokesman, Jeff Nobers, said the resort normally checks guest IDs and credit cards but does not conduct extensive background checks.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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