Editor’s note: This is the final installment in a five-part series centering on a lawsuit moved to federal court in Asheville, which is ongoing. The suit was filed by Swain County trout farmer Gerald “Gerry” Laschober against Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran and Bryson City Police Chief Charles Robinson. Attempts to interview Cochran, Robinson and their attorneys were unsuccessful.
Ela – Gerry Laschober alleges there is a pattern of Sheriff Curtis Cochran, subordinates and allies using law enforcement to exact revenge on those who cross them.
Laschober manages Cooper Creek Trout Farm in Swain County. Over the years, he has had several brushes with law enforcement, from reporting uniformed Swain County sheriff’s deputies trespassing by using his property as a cut-through to illegally hunt for bears in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to being held at gunpoint over a lost hunting dog, to being handcuffed and accused of evading a police checkpoint, to – finally and most severely – a SWAT raid on his property amid allegations that he put a hit out on Cochran, then-sheriff’s Lt. Charles Robinson and several other law enforcement officers.
Robinson later left the sheriff’s office and today is Bryson City’s police chief. Both are named as respondents in Laschober’s federal lawsuit.
It should be noted that, through it all, charges against Laschober stemming from the checkpoint evasion incident were later dropped, and no charges were ever filed against him stemming from the SWAT raid on his property.
That’s part of Cochran’s pattern, Laschober said. He said Cochran uses law enforcement as a weapon against his enemies.
Jerry Lowery
In 2018, Jerry Lowery, a 68-year-old Swain County resident, filed a complaint with the Swain County Board of Elections, alleging that Cochran should not be allowed to run for sheriff because of a dishonorable discharge from the Marines. The complaint was dismissed at the county and state levels, but Cochran never proved – nor was he asked to prove – that Lowery’s allegation was false.
However, while in the midst of the controversy, Lowery was arrested on a decade-old John Doe warrant for obtaining property under false pretenses, a warrant for which Lowery did not fit the description.
The arrest was made while Lowery was at the Swain County elections office. Someone had alerted a TV station, and a crew was at the scene to film Lowery’s arrest. Yet, charges against Lowery were later dropped.
Laschober alleges that Cochran and Robinson cooked up the arrest and alerted the TV station to discredit Lowery, adding that it is not the only time Cochran used the media to taint a political opponent.
Just six weeks after Cochran was re-elected in 2018, Laschober was detained near Bryson City while a SWAT team executed a search warrant on his property at the end of Cooper Creek Road. He was released without charges. A month later, a regional weekly newspaper published a story about the raid.
“SBI investigates threats to Swain sheriff, deputies,” the headline read.
“Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran recently called upon the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation to investigate alleged threats against himself and several other law enforcement officers,” read the first paragraph.
Eighteen paragraphs later, Laschober was given his chance to comment in the article. The article never mentions that Laschober was not charged with a crime.
Laschober said a manipulated media is not the only tool at Cochran’s disposal.
Informant
In early 2018, a habitual offender named Kyle Huskey was arrested when he was found with three of Cochran’s campaign signs in the back of his truck. On Facebook, Cochran alleged that Huskey’s arrest led law officials to a larger, more sinister purpose for the stolen campaign signs, but didn’t go into details.
Huskey was later recorded saying that he was merely pulling a prank and planned to put the Cochran campaign signs on his boss’ front yard, when he was pulled over by law officials. In the the audio file, Huskey said he was taken to a remote location, beaten by Cochran himself and accused of stealing the signs at the bidding of Rocky Sampson, a Bryson City police officer who was running for sheriff.
The Huskey audio file about that arrest was recorded on the front porch of Laschober’s house at Cooper Creek Trout Farm around late November 2018. A reporter contacted Laschober, asking for help contacting Huskey. Huskey had helped Laschober one time at the trout farm, and Laschober knew Huskey’s father and uncle, so he was able to arrange the meeting.
With Laschober, Sampson, Lowery and Huskey all gathered on the porch, the reporter never showed up. Still, the group started talking about their experiences with Swain County law enforcement.
By that time, Huskey had a long rap sheet and was on probation for prior offenses while also waiting for other charges to wind their way through courts. Huskey was already known as a police informant.
In December 2018, just over a month after Cochran was re-elected sheriff of Swain County – and just weeks after sitting on Laschober’s front porch – Huskey was again arrested.
On Dec. 15, 2018, Robinson and Deputy A.R. Holland arrested Huskey on charges of possession of a firearm by a felon, felonious restraint, assault on a female, resisting a public officer, possession of marijuana paraphernalia and possession of marijuana. A sworn statement from SBI Special Agent S.R. Ashe to obtain search warrants for phone records – and, later, Laschober’s home – was based on information provided to him by the two arresting officers.
Ashe said the officers told him they were escorting Huskey to the patrol vehicle when he told Holland some “bad (expletive)” was going to happen. Huskey reportedly said he would provide information, but only if it was not recorded.
Safely away from recording devices, Huskey allegedly said “he knew a guy who wanted to pay him $10,000 to $15,000 and the guy had a hundred pounds of explosives and that Doug Woodard, Aaron Ammons, Curtis Cochran and Charlie Robinson was on the list.” Huskey said the “guy” was “Cooper’s Creek Gerry” – Gerry Laschober, on whose porch Huskey, Sampson and Lowery sat just a few weeks earlier, and during which Huskey described “how dirty” Cochran and Swain County law enforcement are.
Based on Huskey’s information, law enforcement obtained warrants for Laschober’s cell phone and two cell phones belonging to Huskey. There, they found a single text: “100lbs is possible within 2 weeks time.”
Based on what Huskey allegedly told them, Robinson drew the conclusion that “100lbs” referred to C-4, a chemical compound used to blow things up.
The alleged crimes prompting the search warrants were:
* Conspiracy to commit the felony of first-degree murder;
* Solicitation to commit the felony of first-degree murder;
* Solicitation to malicious use of explosive or incendiary.
As agents from the SBI, federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms and a Cherokee-based SWAT team descended on Cooper Creek Trout Farm, Ashe called Laschober’s phone and asked to meet him at the Microtel Inn & Suites near Bryson City.
From there, they went to the Swain County Courthouse, where Ashe interviewed Laschober as his residence was being searched. Later that evening, Ashe released Laschober without charging him with any crimes.
Authorities seized firearms and an over-the-counter incendiary used in target practice, but found no C-4 or anything that would support the allegation that Laschober planned to bomb or kill anyone.
On Oct. 31, 2019, District Attorney Ashley Welch wrote Laschober a letter telling him that she had reviewed the file and determined that “sufficient evidence does not exist to prosecute you for any alleged conspiracy … I sent the SBI a letter requesting they close the case.”
The “100lbs” mentioned in the search warrant affidavits referred to fish. Huskey’s father and uncle often fished on Cooper Creek at Laschober’s trout farm, with his blessing.
According to Laschober, he offered to let Huskey’s father fish in his ponds, but he needed to wait a couple of weeks for the fish to grow, at which time he could get 100 pounds of fish if he wanted.