Wilkes Barre, Pa- A representative from Discover Financial testified Harlow Cuadra used his Discover card to pay for a Silver Nissan Xterra SUV from a Virginia Beach, Va. rental dealer the day before Bryan Kocis was killed.
Prosecutors have called 15 witnesses today in the capital homicide trial of Cuadra, who is accused of stabbing to death Kocis in the victim’s Dallas Township home.
Four different neighbors testified they saw a silver SUV parked in the driveway of Kocis’ Midland Drive home the night he was killed.
Earlier today, a former employee of Kocis testified Kocis was thrilled with his gay pornography business in January 2007. He had just settled a year-long legal issue with one of his actors and had a potential new model coming in to audition, Robert Wagner testified.
“(Kocis) was very excited, he thought (the model) was very cute,” Wagner said.
Wagner said he visited Kocis the weekend before his January 2007 death, to help with various aspects of the business. Wagner acted and shot video for Kocis.
The two men talked numerous times about the prospective model, who called himself Danny Moilin of King of Prussia, but who prosecutors say was really Cuadra.
Cuadra, prosecutors say, killed Kocis to eliminate him as a rival of his own gay pornography business, which he co-owned with Joseph Kerekes in Virginia Beach, Va.
After reviewing photos of Moilin, which appear to be Cuadra, Wagner told Kocis he didn’t think the prospective model would work out.
“I didn’t think he was good,” Wagner said. “He was muscle and older looking.”
Kocis disagreed and planned to meet with Moilin on Jan. 24, 2007, the day he died.
Kocis had been in a legal disagreement with Sean Lockhart, stage name Brent Corrigan, and his partner Grant Roy. But the men had reached an agreement about filming rights in early January 2007 in Las Vegas and later San Diego, Wagner said. Everyone was happy with the new arrangement, he said.
“The weight of the world had been lifted off (their) shoulders,” Wagner said.
Previous witnesses testified that Cuadra and Kerekes wanted to sign Lockhart to shoot films for their business, but viewed Kocis as an impediment.
Following Wagner’s testimony, prosecutors called Andre Pappas, a Drug Enforcement Agency officer in San Diego. He testified to a recording device he helped investigators use to record a conversation between Cuadra, Kerekes, Roy and Lockhart at a nude beach in the San Diego area. The device was hidden inside a keyless car entry keychain.
Cuadra admitted to the crimes, prosecutors say, in the taped conversation, which hasn’t been played for the jury yet.