DAYTON — An Episcopal priest who has served churches in Springboro and Amelia will appear in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court today on felony charges that he solicited sex from a male undercover detective.

        The charges were bumped to felonies after Dayton police said the Rev. John C. Cochrane solicited sex despite knowing he was HIV-positive.

        The Rev. Mr. Cochrane pleaded no contest in July in Dayton Municipal Court to a misdemeanor solicitation charge. After that arrest, the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio suspended him and removed him from St. Francis Episcopal Church in Springboro.

        “The bishop and the members of the church are deeply saddened by this situation and continue to pray for John Cochrane,” said the Rev. Canon Stephen Muncie, a diocesan spokesman.

        The diocese is working through a process established by canon law to make the suspension permanent, the Rev. Mr. Muncie said.

        “(The case) is isolated, and it is a personal tragedy,” said the Rev. Mr. Muncie. “The church acted immediately and decisively while at the same time making sure he was prayed for.”

        The Rev. Mr. Cochrane has served in the diocese for more than a decade, with seven years at the Lord of Peace congregation in Amelia. The Rt. Rev. Herbert Thompson Jr., bishop of the diocese, appointed the Rev. Mr. Cochrane to the Springboro church in summer 2000. The Rev. Mr. Cochrane was an interim pastor while the congregation sought a permanent priest.

        After the July arrest on a solicitation charge, a Dayton magistrate placed the Rev. Mr. Cochrane on supervised probation and ordered him to get an HIV test.

        The Rev. Mr. Cochrane, 53, was arrested again Oct. 15 after he approached a male undercover officer in Dayton and tried to ""engage with him in sexual activity for hire,” according to the indictment. He pleaded not guilty to the felony counts of solicitation and loitering with the intent to solicit. The charges are more serious because Ohio law makes it a felony for a person who knows he is HIV-positive to solicit sex for hire.

        If convicted on both counts, the Rev. Mr. Cochrane could face up to six years in prison.

        He is being held at the Montgomery County jail. His attorney said the priest could not make the $5,000 bond.

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