Coto de Caza Attorney Admits to Altering Psych Report for Child Molester

A defense attorney admitted today that he altered a psychological report on a client, who went to prison for molesting three girls, and was immediately sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years of informal probation.

David Cohn, 51, of Coto De Caza, was also ordered to make a $10,000 donation to the Victim Witness Emergency fund and pay a $1,000 fine, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Robert Mestman.

Cohn has won two acquittals against Orange County prosecutors in recent years and represented clients such as Kathia Maria Davis, a “hockey mom” who was sentenced to 16 months in prison for sexually assaulting two teenage boys in her Laguna Niguel home.

Cohn got into trouble representing Carmen Sanchez Flores, a Riverside man who was sentenced in February of last year to 36 years to life in prison for molesting three girls in Anaheim during family gatherings dating back to 1993.

Cohn had hired psychologist Veronica Thomas to evaluate and prepare a report on Flores in October 2012.

To try to get a better plea deal offer from Senior Deputy District Attorney Jess Rodriguez, Cohn doctored the report to make it more favorable to his client, Mestman said.

When the case went to trial, Cohn submitted the doctored report again without the psychologist’s knowledge, Mestman said.

Cohn did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but his attorney, Ed Welbourn, issued a statement saying that Cohn “acknowledges that he made an error in judgment” and “accepts responsibility for his actions.”

“He has always been an attorney held in high esteem by judges, colleagues, prosecutors and clients,” Welbourn said. “He strives to be an ethical and hard-working family man and attorney.”

Cohn was given until January to begin serving his jail sentence, Mestman said.

City News Service