MORGANTON, N.C. — A man who has a long history of exposing himself to women is facing new charges after a recent incident along a greenway west of downtown Morganton.
Channel 9’s Dave Faherty spoke with a woman who said the suspect stalked her along the greenway. She says Tristan Coffey followed her for some time and claimed he had lost his car keys, but ended up exposing himself to her on the greenway.
Coffey is listed on the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry, where one of his aliases is “Flash” Coffey. Guillermina Arias says she’ll never forget coming face-to-face with Coffey on the greenway near Catawba Meadows Park. Her daughter helped us translate on Thursday.
“My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest, and I was extremely afraid, extremely scared,” Arias said.
Arias says Coffey ran into the woods after he exposed himself and she threatened to call police. She took a photo of one of the only cars still in the parking lot. According to the police report, investigators traced the car back to Tristan Coffey, someone they knew from previous arrests.
Police confirmed to Channel 9 that Arias later picked him out from a photo lineup. But he wasn’t charged back in June until two more cases this week at popular shopping centers in Morganton.
Arias’ daughter believes her mother provided the information needed for an arrest and that Coffey should not be allowed out after so many previous cases.
“This man stalked her and followed her in a park for God knows what. He is a very dangerous person. Why is he still out?” said Raquel Henderson, Arias’ daughter.
The family is thankful police took out charges, but they are concerned there will be more cases if Coffey gets out.
“My anger is they need to do something about it. I believe he is very dangerous, and he is going to do something worse,” Arias said.
We checked inmate records and found that Coffey, who has 18 convictions for indecent exposure, was given no bond and remains in jail tonight.
Coffey’s convictions stretch across Burke and Caldwell counties.
In 2021, police arrested Coffey and seven others for a kidnapping that started in Catawba County. He also exposed himself to childcare workers at a church in Morganton earlier that year.
He served two years in prison for those crimes.
And in 2019, police say he ran a woman off the road before flashing her. Police say he also exposed himself to a 75-year-old woman at a car wash, and to a census worker who knocked on his door.
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