Level 3 offender arrested after incident at Price Chopper

Level 3 offender arrested after incident at Price Chopper
By Jeff Malachowski/Staff Writer
Thu Dec 03, 2009
SHREWSBURY -

A 56-year-old Level 3 sex offender was arrested Sunday night after allegedly exposing himself to an employee at Price Chopper Supermarket.

John Coppinger allegedly walked into the Price Chopper Supermarket on Maple Avenue a little before 9 p.m. Sunday “with his genitals exposed through the zipper region of his jeans to a female employee of the store,” according to a police report written by Officer Christopher Boudreau.

Boudreau described the female employee as “shocked” and “alarmed” at Coppinger’s behavior and the employee told her manager, who then called police, according to court records.
Coppinger, who is homeless, told another store employee he needed safety pins because the zipper of his pants was broken, according to court records.

“I did determine Mr. Coppinger’s zipper was functional and an inventory search of his motor vehicle yielded several unopened packages of safety pins, as well as the fact he was not wearing any underwear,” Boudreau wrote in a police report.

Coppinger is registered in the state as a Level 3 sex offender, among the level considered the most dangerous and most likely to re-offend. He has been convicted of several sex crimes, the most recent in 2005 when he was convicted of open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior. Coppinger was convicted on the same charges of one count of open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior in 2002 and six counts in 1998, according to the Massachusetts sex offender registry.

He was also convicted of attempting indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 14 years old and open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior in 1995, according to the Massachusetts sex offender registry.

Coppinger was charged Sunday with open and gross lewdness and disturbing the peace. He was arraigned in Westborough District Court on Monday and was ordered held on $5,000 cash bail. Coppinger is due back in court on Dec. 29 for a pre-trial hearing.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/shrewsbury/news/police_and_fire/x441567478/Level-3-offender-arrested-after-incident-at-Price-Chopper


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