Crime Stoppers tip leads to arrest of man for lewd conduct

DUNCAN — A man is in jail on $100,000 bond after he was charged with sexually harassing and inappropriately touching at least four women in Duncan.

Police learned his identity after a call for tips by Crime Stoppers on a social media post. 

Tracy Donelle Covington Jr., 30, of Choctaw, made his initial appearance Monday in Stephens County District Court where he received two felony charges of sexual battery and two misdemeanor counts of outraging public decency, records indicate. Each felony count is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

A woman told Duncan Police Detective Connor Newman that on Feb. 7, she was at work at Dollar Tree, 1829 N. U.S. 81 when an unidentified man with a beard wearing a yellow jacket and shorts followed her through the store and groped her buttocks, the probable cause affidavit stated. Store security ideo showed the incident.

After leaving the store at closing and going home, she saw a vehicle make a U-turn on her street and park near her home. Soon after, she said, there was a knock at the door and the man from the store asked her if she had anything to drink, Newman stated. She told him no and he continued to stand in her front lawn for a while, the affidavit states. The man returned to the store the next day.

On Feb. 19, Crime Stoppers of Southwest Oklahoma posted about the incident, including still images of the man and police received a tip it was Covington. From that post, another woman reported he’d followed her around the store.

The second woman said on Feb. 7, Covington pulled in behind her at Walmart, 3393 N. U.S. 81, and stayed there for a while before realizing there were two people inside her car and left, according to the affidavit.

Another woman came to the police station to report another incident. She said Covington was her boyfriend and said he was in town visiting at the time of the incidents, Newman stated.

The detective investigated a Feb.6 incident at Dollar General, 3045 W. Beech, where Covington was following another woman. In security video, he was seen reaching his hand inside his pants and touching himself lewdly, according to the affidavit. He eventually left the store. While there, another employee reported being touched inappropriately by the man.

It was learned that on Feb. 6, Cane Brook Assisted Living, just north of the Dollar General, had gone on lockdown after a resident reported Covington had sexually propositioned her, the affidavit states.

Held with the conditions he have no contact with any of the witnesses, Covington returns to court at 9 a.m. April 16 for his preliminary hearing conference, records indicate.