Wednesday, August 11, 2010

New charges filed in child rape case

Defendant denies sex crimes against 7-year-old girl

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By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

Robert Cesar Cochachi-Macha, a 25-year-old Peruvian national, was arraigned Monday in Blaine County 5th District Court on three felony charges for alleged sex crimes against a 7-year-old Hailey girl. Cochachi-Macha pleaded not guilty to all three counts. Photo by Willy Cook

A man accused of raping a 7-year-old Hailey girl in July was arraigned Monday in Blaine County 5th District Court on two additional felony charges for alleged sex crimes against the same girl.

The new charges follow a Blaine County grand jury indictment issued on July 29 against 25-year-old Robert Cesar Cochachi-Macha. In addition to rape, the grand jury indictment charges Cochachi-Macha with lewd conduct with a child under 16 and sexual abuse of a child under 16.

The indictment accuses Cochachi-Macha, a Peruvian national with legal residency status in the United States, of multiple sex acts against the girl on July 16 at the girl's parents' home in the Woodside area of Hailey. According to police reports, Cochachi-Macha, an unemployed construction worker, was renting a bedroom from the family.

At Monday's arraignment, Judge Robert J. Elgee advised the defendant that both rape and lewd conduct with a minor child are punishable in Idaho by up to life in prison. Sexual assault of a minor child is punishable by up 25 years in prison.

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Speaking through a court interpreter, Cochachi-Macha pleaded not guilty to all three charges, telling the judge "that I haven't done anything wrong, that I haven't done any of those things."

Cochachi-Macha, who remains incarcerated in the Blaine County jail on $100,000 bond, was brought into court with cuffs and chains around his arms and legs.

Elgee scheduled a jury trial, expected to last about four days, to begin on Nov. 2.

The Hailey-based Roark Law Firm has been appointed to represent Cochachi-Macha under its public defender contract with Blaine County.

Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com

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