Andrew Crawford

A Cody man who repeatedly exposed himself to coffee kiosk workers last fall has been ordered to serve roughly 2 1/2 years behind bars.

Andrew C. Crawford, 34, was recently sentenced on four misdemeanor counts of public indecency for showing his genitals at coffee kiosks in Cody plus a felony count of failing to comply with Wyoming’s sex offender laws for a prior conviction of possessing child pornography.

Charging documents say Crawford exposed himself at Rocky Mountain Mudd coffee kiosks at least five times in September, October and November.

After receiving the first reports, Cody police staked out the kiosks for days on end — and at one point tailed Crawford around Cody — but they were unable to catch him in the act. However, an alert barista captured the license plate number on Crawford’s Chevy pickup in late October and both she and other victims were able to identify Crawford from photos. Then on Nov. 2, a barista captured Crawford exposing himself with her cellphone.

Having recognized the man from an earlier encounter, the barista “had mentally prepared for Crawford exposing himself and poured hot water into a cup,” Cody Police Det. Scott Burlingame wrote in an affidavit. Then, the officer recounted, “she threw the hot water onto Crawford’s exposed genitals and yelled at him to get out of there and never come back.”

Crawford quickly left and was arrested the following day on five misdemeanor counts of public indecency. On Nov. 4, Park County prosecutors charged the sex offender with a felony count of failing to report required information for the state’s sex offender registry — for not informing the sheriff’s office that he’d purchased a 2003 Chevy Impala in September.

Crawford ultimately reached an agreement to resolve both cases, pleading guilty to all the charges except one of the counts of public indecency. District Court Judge Bill Simpson and Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah signed off on the agreement in March and April, respectively, sentencing Crawford to a combined total of 30 to 48 months in prison. Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Jack Hatfield said it was also likely that federal authorities will revoke Crawford’s supervised release.

Court records show he’s under supervision for possessing child pornography in Arizona in 2009. Charging documents say Crawford accessed at least 10 sexually explicit images featuring children, when he was serving in the U.S. Air Force. He returned home to Cody while the investigation was pending, but in early 2011, he exposed himself to two girls and their mother in the Cody Walmart parking lot, according to past reporting by the Billings Gazette. Crawford was federally indicted for the child pornography in January 2012 and later received a 72-month prison sentence, followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

In a sentencing memo, federal prosecutors described Crawford as someone “unable or unwilling to control his sexual interest in children.”

However, Crawford’s defense attorney described his client as an intelligent, kind, caring and generous young man suffering from significant mental health issues.

“... The demons of his mental problems have controlled his life,” attorney Dan Cooper wrote in October 2012. However, he said treatment, medication, support from family and friends and Crawford’s own desire to change would help overcome those struggles.

When Crawford was released from prison in May 2017, he returned to Cody and began receiving treatment in Billings. However, Crawford struggled with the same behaviors, admitting to publicly exposing himself multiple times, according to court filings composed by his federal probation agents.

In late 2019, he admitted to exposing himself to two teenage girls who walked past his vehicle in Cody, the records say, and in 2020, he repeatedly exposed himself while in the parking lot of his Powell workplace. The following year, he admitted to covertly obtaining a computer tablet and accessing pornography.

Crawford’s supervisors made attempts to address his behavior: He was placed under more severe monitoring and in jail, including a three-month stint in late 2021/early 2022 followed by three months at a residential reentry center. But it didn’t prevent the incidents at the coffee kiosks last fall.

“Mr. Crawford, I’m sorry that you have to undergo this,” Judge Darrah said at Crawford’s April 5 sentencing in circuit court. “I hope you get the help you need and go through this and maybe you can be a productive member of society once you get out of jail. I really sincerely hope that for you …”

Crawford is currently serving his prison sentence at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution in Torrington.