Morganton man charged three times in one week for indecent exposure

On Thursday, Sept. 17, Tristan Douglas Green Coffey, 27, of Morganton, was charged with another misdemeanor charge for indecent exposure — his third of the week.

Morganton Public Safety officers responded to the parking lot of Roses on Monday, Sept. 14, around 2:30 p.m. when a woman reported a man exposing himself to her while seated in a black sedan.

Although officers arrived within minutes, the man had left the scene.

Later that evening, a similar call came from a woman at Staples, where the story seemed nearly identical to the first — a man sitting naked in a black sedan, according to city officials.

When officers spotted the black Dodge Neon in traffic, they stopped the vehicle and identified Coffey, a registered sex offender from Lenoir, said authorities.

Officers arrested Coffey and transported him to the Burke County Magistrate’s Office, where he was charged with two counts of misdemeanor indecent exposure.

By Thursday, another person reported Coffey for exposing himself on the Catawba River Greenway, with the actual crime occurring on June 10, according to court documents.

These aren’t Coffey’s first charges for this type of crime. His rap sheet for indecent exposure spans nearly 20 previous convictions across Caldwell and Burke County, and traces all the way back to 2018.

—JC