By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE and ANITA KUMAR

"We're scratching our heads," one judge says of Circuit Judge Charles W. Cope's prowling charge."We're scratching our heads," one judge says of Circuit Judge Charles W. Cope's prowling charge. 

It was about 20 minutes after the hour, and Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Charles W. Cope still had not arrived for an 8 a.m. class at a judicial conference in Carmel, Calif.

When Cope did show about 8:30, some conferees figured he slept in. Cope offered no explanation, acting as if nothing was amiss.

"I saw nothing out of the ordinary," said George Greer, a Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge who attended the April 5 conference. "I detected nothing."

Cope hadn't slept in. He may not have slept at all.

Carmel police had arrested him hours earlier and charged him with two misdemeanors -- prowling/loitering and peering into an occupied dwelling -- after police say he tried to enter the hotel room of two women.

Cope, 52, was free on $1,000 bail.

In the three months since that arrest, Cope's problems in California were unknown to virtually all the other judges and lawyers in the Pinellas-Pasco circuit.

"We're scratching our heads," said Circuit Judge Frank Quesada, a family court judge supervised by Cope, the circuit's top family judge. "Everyone was dumbfounded by it. I don't think anyone knew."

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Jack Espinosa Jr. dined with Cope at the conference but had no idea of his arrest.

"This is news to me," said Espinosa, who learned of the charges Thursday.

Cope did tell at least one person: Judge Susan Schaeffer, who at the time of the arrest was the circuit's chief judge.

The circuit's new chief judge, David Demers, said he was unaware that Cope had been criminally charged in California.

But at about the time he took over as chief judge on July 1, Demers said, Schaeffer told him there had been "a problem" with Cope.

"Judge Schaeffer said she was still handling that problem and she didn't offer details," Demers said. "There was no need for me to know what the problem was. She didn't get into it. And I didn't ask."

Schaeffer refused to say what she and Cope discussed after his arrest. Cope declined to comment.

Whether the state's Judicial Qualifications Commission takes action against Cope remains to be seen. The JQC, a judicial watchdog group, can suspend or remove a judge from the bench for violating judicial canons.

Brooke Kennerly, the JQC's executive director, said a misdemeanor charge is not necessarily grounds for discipline, even upon a conviction. She declined to say if the JQC is investigating Cope.

When Cope was arrested for misdemeanor DUI in 1996 while attending a judicial conference in Naples, he reported himself to the JQC. That charge was eventually dismissed and the JQC took no action.

No judge is ever under any obligation to notify the JQC about a criminal charge, Kennerly said. She would not say if Cope reported the matter.

"We take it on a case-by-case basis," she said. "These are allegations at this point. People are charged. That doesn't mean they're guilty."

Cope, meantime, is still sitting on the bench while his criminal case is pending. He has pleaded not guilty and no trial date is yet set.

"I think he's done a good job," said Demers. "And there's no reason to think he won't continue to do a good job."

Neither the JQC nor Demers would discuss what might happen if Cope were convicted of the misdemeanors.

On April 4, Carmel police said, Cope saw a 64-year-old Maryland woman and her 31-year-old daughter outside their hotel. The women, whom police will not identify, had lost a room key and Cope, who was walking by when he noticed they were upset, tried to help them find it, police said.

An officer who happened by said Cope and the women appeared to be intoxicated.

The next day, the women told police that Cope unlocked their room with a key as they slept at 12:30 a.m. They said only the door's chain lock prevented him from entering.

One woman looked out the window, identifying Cope. The other called 911.

Police stopped Cope walking about a block away. They searched him and then his room at another hotel but did not find any key.

Cope's attorneys say Cope, who is married and has three children, did not try to enter the room. They say the women are confusing him with someone else.

"Judge Cope has respect for the judicial process and wants to reach an amicable resolution without taking this to trial," said Cope's lawyer, Tom Worthington.

"This is all a big misunderstanding."

    email: clr@clr.org