AGENT TESTIFIES TO BOMB SCHEME.

Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer

A Sherman Oaks businessman plotted an Oklahoma City-style bombing of the Ventura County Courthouse in the hope of killing prosecutors and destroying evidence in his securities fraud trial, an undercover federal agent testified Wednesday.

The bombing was just one part of a reign of terror that Frank Boyd Cockrell II planned in order to escape fraud charges and retaliate against prosecutors whom Cockrell believed were conspiring against him, said Charles M. Pratt, a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

``He told me that he intended to destroy the Ventura County Courthouse - specifically the third floor, the District Attorney's Office - and to kill as many district attorneys, DA investigators and judges as possible . . . and (destroy) evidence against him,'' said Pratt, who was posing as an anti-government militia leader when he allegedly was solicited by Cockrell.

``I told him a lot of people were going to get killed in this operation,'' Pratt testified. ``He said, `They deserve it.' ''

Cockrell, 49, has pleaded not guilty to fraud, grand theft, money laundering and tax evasion charges in connection with a $1.7-million stock scam.

The judge in the fraud trial allowed testimony about the alleged bomb plot, saying it may show Cockrell had a consciousness of guilt.

He will be tried at a future date in the bombing case.

Pratt testified that during their first meeting on Aug. 17, Cockrell indicated he wanted the courthouse fire-bombed.

``He expressed some knowledge of the Oklahoma City federal building bombing and referred to that as to the kind of damage he wanted done,'' said Pratt, a 22-year veteran of the ATF. ``He wanted the bombing to be part of an overall plan to isolate and paralyze the city of Ventura.''

Before the attack on the courthouse, Cockrell wanted to blow up an oil refinery to divert emergency personnel. Two overpasses of the Ventura Freeway would also be bombed to prevent rescue teams from reaching the courthouse, Pratt said.

During the pandemonium, members of Pratt's fictitious militia cell would rob and burn local jewelry and gun stores, using to proceeds to pay for the bombing spree. In later meetings, Pratt said, Cockrell gave him a map, photos of targeted locations and an initial payment of $2,000 in cash.

Cockrell regularly used a radio frequency detector to determine whether the conversations were being bugged, Pratt said.

To finance the bombing spree, Cockrell also planned to kidnap auto dealer Ray Feinstein and his wife and then extort money from the couple before murdering them, Pratt said.

Cockrell told Pratt that the District Attorney's Office conspired to ruin him.

``You have a cancer up there,'' Cockrell said during a secretly recorded conversation. ``So how do you cut out a cancer so that it can't - so that it's cured? . . . The less ability they have to keep coming after me, the better I am. Because they're going - they're going to plant something on me. You know, I've taken such a big chance even doing this deal.''