Hollywood studio architect Jeffrey Cooper is scheduled to be sentenced June 1 following his conviction in Van Nuys on three counts of child molestation, according to news reports.
On Friday, a jury found Cooper guilty of three felony charges of lewd acts on a child.
Cooper, 70, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences known for his designs of movie theaters and sound studios, was arrested in June 2018 after two minors accused him of child molestation.
According to court records, the crimes took place with one victim between November 2006 and November 2007 and on the second between January 2012 and July 2016. The two accusers are now 16 and 28 years old.
Cooper had pleaded not guilty. He had been free on a $5 million bond.
One of his accusers testified that she considered Cooper to be a “friend” and a “mentor, and someone she wrote songs with, according to a Los Angeles Times report. She accused Cooper of molesting her on a couch in the basement of his home music studio when she was 12 or 13.
Jurors convicted him on charges related to that minor.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Alan Schneider declared a mistrial on the remaining on charges after the jury was unable to reach a verdict on five other counts tied to the second accuser.
“Obviously the families are disappointed that the jury didn’t convict as to one victim, but they are very pleased to see the jury at least convicted as to the second victim,” Dave Ring, an attorney for the two accusers and their families, told The Times. “It was incredibly satisfying for them to see Cooper immediately remanded to prison for what he did. They’ve been put through nothing short of hell during the last four years of criminal proceedings.”
Alan Jackson, Cooper’s attorney, called the allegations false, part of “a money play” and called his client a “target” because of his “wealth, status and resources.”
Cooper, who testified in his own defense, denied the allegations and said there were multiple adults around at all times, including parents and, in the case of the younger girl, her grandparents, who were longtime friends of the Coopers.
A top designer of movie theaters and sound studios, Cooper’s work included an Academy of Television Arts and Sciences theater, as well as more than two dozen mixing studios, according to the website of his Calabasas-based firm.
He also designed home studios for top Hollywood directors, including Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg and was the architect behind the Aish HaTorah World Center in Jerusalem.
Cooper had been an Academy member since 2002.
“The Academy has been made aware of the alleged abhorrent behavior and will address this matter according to our Standards of Conduct and the due process requirements under California nonprofit corporation law,” officials said in a statement prior to Cooper’s trial. “We would have grounds, under our rules, to expel any member convicted of a violent crime.”
Following Friday’s conviction, Schneider said Cooper was a flight risk and ordered him held in jail without bail. He faces up to 12 years in prison.