NC mountain sheriff arrested, accused of sexually assaulting two women
A 72-year-old sheriff in the North Carolina mountains was arrested Friday on assault on a female, solicitation to commit prostitution and other charges, prosecutors said.
Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran also was charged with felonious restraint and sexual battery, District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said in a news release.
And police officers with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians charged Cochran with abusive sexual contact and two counts of oppression in office — violations of the Cherokee Code of Ordinances, Welch said.
“These alleged acts, if proved, constitute corruption while in office in violation of N.C. General Statute 128-6(3),” Welch said in a statement.
Superior Court Judge Tessa Sellers suspended Cochran pending a July 7 hearing in Graham County to review the suspension. He’s been sheriff since 2006.
The judge scheduled a July 21 hearing in Swain County on Welch’s additional request to remove Cochran permanently from office.
Cochran was freed on a total bond of $17,500, The Smoky Mountain News reported.
Agents with the State Bureau of Investigation and police officers with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians arrested Cochran, Welch said.
Allegations against sheriff
In a petition filed in court, Welch says an enrolled member of the tribe filed a report with tribal police saying Cochran sexually assaulted her Sunday afternoon on the tribe’s Qualla Boundary. Its 57,000 acres span five Western N.C. counties, about an hour west of Asheville at the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The woman told police she and her boyfriend left home after a verbal altercation that afternoon. She spotted a law enforcement car as they walked along U.S. 19 between Adams Creek and Jenkins Grocery, she said.
She flagged down the Dodge Durango SUV, hoping an officer could help her, according to the petition. She was upset and crying, and believed that getting inside the vehicle would help diffuse the situation.
As soon as he began driving, Cochran touched her and continued to despite her objections, she said.
Cochran asked her to perform oral sex on him and how much she charged, she said in her police report. She said she didn’t know “because she doesn’t do that,” according to the D.A.’s petition.
The sheriff kept urging her to perform oral sex and at one point pulled into a gravel area on the side of the road in Swain County, the woman said. He left the vehicle, walked to her side of the Durango, positioned himself to block her from getting out and again asked for oral sex, she said.
She said the sheriff told her that if she complied, “all she will have to do is say his name if she got into trouble, and he will help her,” according to the petition.
The woman said she was frightened and thought she wasn’t going to be taken home.
After expressing disappointment over her refusal to perform oral sex, she said, Cochran drove her back toward her home, at one point “rubbing his crotch.”
Driving further along, she said, she saw him take his penis out of his pants and move his hand up and down “while grunting,” according to the petition.
As they neared her home, the sheriff asked “if she was good at keeping secrets, because they are going to keep this a secret.”
She didn’t answer. When Cochran stopped the vehicle near her home, she said she ran up back stairs leading to her bedroom.
Video cameras show her quickly leaving the vehicle, the petition states. She appeared upset and didn’t look back as she left the vehicle.
Immediately after receiving the woman’s complaint, Cherokee Indian Police launched a criminal investigation that included interviewing the woman and pulling surveillance videos and license plate reader information, Welch wrote.
“Information received from the investigation corroborated (the) allegations,” she said in her petition.
By Monday morning, the FBI and State Bureau of Investigation arrived on the Qualla Boundary to help with the investigation, Welch said.
Second woman alleges sexual assault
As police investigated the first sexual assault report, Assistant Chief Josh Taylor saw the sheriff’s vehicle around 4:10 p.m. near the Cherokee Indian Police Department.
Cochran drove in a manner that indicated to Taylor that the sheriff was trying to evade him, Welch said. Taylor caught up with the sheriff and stopped him, only to discover that a woman also was in the car.
The woman had just been released from the Cherokee Indian Police Department jail and appeared to be upset, Welch said.
When Taylor asked if she was OK, she said she was. The sheriff, too, said everything was fine and said the woman had just called him from the jail to give her a ride.
Taylor said he later learned that account was false, Welch wrote.
Police let Cochran go but continued to follow him. The woman was in the car, too.
When the sheriff stopped at Catamount Travel Center, the woman left and went inside. Police approached and noticed she was “visibly upset,” … “trembling” … and “about to cry,” according to the petition.
She told police she was scared of that “‘sick, perverted old man’ who had touched her all over while they were riding down the road and had wanted her to do things that she did not want to do.”
Sheriff rubbed her breast, woman says
In an interview at her home Tuesday with police, the woman said she was walking on the side of the road after being released from jail when a driver offered her a ride.
When she entered the vehicle, she recognized Cochran, she said.
She asked Cochran to take her to the Catamount Travel Center, but he turned and headed in the opposite direction, immediately touching her hand and arm, she said, according to the petition.
He later rubbed her left arm, left leg and left breast, the woman said. When she tried to move away, “he continued to reach further to touch her,” the petition states.
As they approached the travel center, it appeared to the woman that the sheriff was going to pass it. He turned into the second entrance after she said, “Whoa, whoa, wait, right here.”
Before the woman left the vehicle, “the sheriff asked her to wait and asked if she was sure she wanted to get out,” the petition states.
She sure was, she replied, according to Welch.
Sheriffs’ association comments
“The allegations that have resulted in the suspension of Sheriff Curtis Cochran are heartbreaking for all of us,” according to a statement of the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association released by Eddie Caldwell, its executive vice president and general counsel.
State law says a chief deputy performs the duties of a sheriff if the sheriff is suspended, the statement said.
“Under the law, there will be no break or interruption in the services provided by the Swain County Sheriff’s Office as a result of this situation,” the statement continued.
“We are confident that the men and women of the Swain County Sheriff’s Office remain committed to serving and protecting the citizens and residents of Swain County uninterrupted, just as they always have.”
The Swain County Sheriff’s Office posted a statement on its Facebook page Friday evening from Chief Deputy Brian Kirkland.
“Please feel secure that there will be no disruption in the services provided by the Swain County Sheriff’s Office as a result of this situation,” the statement said, in part. “The men and women of the Swain County Sheriff’s Office remain committed to serving and protecting the citizens and residents of Swain County.
“Since this involves a criminal investigation the Sheriff’s Office is not in a position to make any further statements.”
Process for replacement of sheriff
North Carolina law lets Swain County commissioners replace Cochran — but not necessarily on their own.
If the county Republican Party’s executive committee submits a qualified nominee within 30 days of Cochran’s vacancy, the commissioners are mandated to appoint that person as sheriff to serve the remaining term.
“In any case I’m familiar with, they always do,” Caldwell said.
Any person elected by the commissioners must also be certified to have no felony convictions or expungements.
Other North Carolina counties use a different process to replace a sheriff.
Because Cochran has been suspended, county commissioners could start the process to fill his vacancy now, Caldwell said. But starting before a permanent removal would be unusual, he said.
Facing the possibility of removal, former Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene resigned at the start of a hearing to determine whether he should be removed from office.
Under a different law, a judge removed former District Attorney Greg Newman from his position as the top prosecutor in Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties in 2021.
Do you have information about Sheriff Curtis Cochran? Contact Observer reporter Joe Marusak at (704) 358-5067 or jmarusak@charlotteobserver.com
This story was originally published June 27, 2025 at 5:16 PM with the headline "NC mountain sheriff arrested, accused of sexually assaulting two women."