PELL CITY – A St. Clair County jury found a sex offender who failed to notify local authorities when he moved into the city guilty of three felonies Tuesday.Larry Coker, 62, was convicted of failure to register as a sex offender, violation of the Community Notification Act, and possession of a vehicle that had obscured vehicle identification numbers.
“The St. Clair County District Attorney’s Office takes the prosecution of sex offenders who fail to register very seriously,” Assistant District Attorney Gwendolyn Connelly said.
Court witnesses testified that Coker was stopped by Pell City police in May 2007 after someone reported him driving around the courthouse in Pell City with a baseball bat and a large knife.
“He was wearing brown leather gloves and had a baseball bat and two Bowie-type knives on the passenger seat,” Pell City warrant officer James Jones testified.
Jones testified that officers asked Coker to get out of his vehicle and that his over-all demeanor was “military-like.”
“Everything he did was military-like,” Jones said. “When we asked him why he was driving around with a baseball bat and knives, he said it was ‘top secret.’”
Jones said Coker told him he and his wife were having problems but that everything was cool now.
Jones testified officers removed the baseball bat and both knives from Coker’s vehicle for officer safety and gave them to St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department Investigator George Bagwell, who was searching for Coker on another complaint.
“He had immediate access to them in the passenger seat,” Jones said.
Jones testified that one knife was a Bowie knife in excess of 8 inches long and the other was a larger style Buck knife in excess of 6 inches long.
Bagwell testified that two days prior to Coker’s arrest, he received a call from a young woman who Coker had made “uncomfortable” by placing his head on her shoulder. After running a criminal history check on Coker, Bagwell discovered and verified he was a convicted sex offender.
According to court documents, Coker was convicted of rape in Mobile County in 1972.
In Bartow County, Ga., Coker was convicted of kidnapping, aggravated assault and simple battery in 1976.
In 1981, Coker was convicted of aggravated assault, kidnapping, enticing a child, and child molestation in Cobb County, Ga.
He was also convicted in Randolph County for perjury and jumping bail.
Bagwell testified Coker had not notified the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department 30 days prior of his intent to move into St. Clair County, and had failed to register as a sex offender within seven days after moving to St. Clair County.
He also testified the VIN numbers in Coker’s vehicle had been obscured or removed. He said Coker’s vehicle should have had at least four VIN numbers at various places and he could find no VIN numbers in the vehicle.
Testifying in his own defense, Coker admitted to being a convicted sex offender but said he had no knowledge of any Alabama laws that required him to give notice to authorities prior to moving into St. Clair County or register once he moved there.
“If I had known about this, I would have went straight to the sheriff’s office and registered,” he said.
Coker testified he kept the baseball bat and knives in the car for personal protection and he had retained ownership of the vehicle and had not attempted to sell it. He said one VIN number was knocked out when his car was vandalized, that he had spray painted rust spots that might have covered up VIN numbers, and that VIN numbers were still present in the vehicle.
Coker testified he wore gloves because his dog had a fungus problem and was too large to bathe. He said he could not recall any incident where he placed his head on the shoulder of any young woman.
Another complaint was filed against Coker two years ago by a telephone repairman who went to Coker’s residence to fix his telephone connection. According to an incident/offense report, Coker allegedly came out of his residence with a compound bow fully drawn with an arrow.
Coker testified his dog was barking early one morning and he saw a man coming down the side of the house. He said he does own a bow and arrows but he did not pull out the bow and arrows and chase the person to a van. When asked if that person was a telephone repairman, Coker testified it was too dark to identify either the person or the van.
Another incident/offense report on file states that shortly before his arrest, police responded to the Dollar General Store in Pell City where Coker allegedly started an argument and spit on a clerk when the clerk refused to accept Coker’s credit card.
Coker admitted shopping at the Dollar General Store in Pell City but testified he never hit or spit on a clerk or was asked to leave the store and not return due to his violent behavior.
Coker testified he rented a residence in Randolph County but when he gave his address, it was not the same as how the address was listed at the courthouse, and that led to the perjury conviction.
Coker was convicted of three Class C felonies. Connelly said while Class C felonies normally carry a sentence of between one year and one day to 10 years in prison, the District Attorney’s Office gave notice to invoke the Habitual Offender Act, so Coker could face between 15 years to life in prison.
“Because we have these community notification laws, Larry Coker was possibly prevented from having another victim in St. Clair County,” Connelly said.
Circuit Court Judge Jim Hill will sentence Coker on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
