A Lovell man is facing two counts of public indecency for allegedly performing sexual acts inside his vehicle last month while within the view of other drivers.

Dennis L. Thompson, 53, pleaded not guilty to the two misdemeanor crimes — which relate to separate incidents in Powell and Cody — during a June 13 appearance in Park County Circuit Court. Thompson remains free on a $3,000 bond pending further proceedings.

The first incident in question occurred on the evening of May 1, when a female driver reportedly saw a man sexually touching himself in his vehicle at a red light on Cody’s Sheridan Avenue. Cody police officers didn’t find the sedan at the time, but Thompson was identified as a suspect following a May 29 incident in the parking lot of the Powell Albertsons store.

In that incident in Powell, a woman in an adjoining parking space reportedly saw Thompson using a sex toy inside his gray Chevy Impala and recorded its license plate. Responding Powell Police Officer Trevor Carpenter found Thompson leaving the lot and pulled him over. 

Thompson initially denied that he had exposed himself, according to an affidavit Carpenter later wrote. However, “I told Dennis [Thompson to] not lie to me and that I found it hard to believe that some random citizen of Powell would falsely report a particular incident like this,” Carpenter recounted.

Thompson ultimately confessed to exposing and touching himself, according to the affidavit. He was issued a citation and the sex toy was seized as evidence.

During his conversation with Thompson, “I explained to him that he couldn’t be doing these obscene activities in the public,” Carpenter wrote.

Thompson “replied with something to the effect of, ‘I know,’” according to the affidavit, and said he didn’t want family members “finding out that I do this.” Authorities say Thompson was previously convicted of public indecency in Big Horn County in 2006 and of a similar offense in Davis County, Utah, in 1995.

Police tied last month’s incident at Albertsons to the earlier one in Cody because the two witnesses are friends and spoke to each other about what they’d seen, charging documents say.

After seeing a photograph of Thompson’s vehicle from the May 29 incident, the witness to the May 1 incident reportedly recognized it as the one she’d observed at the traffic light. Cody Police Officer Thomas Wilshusen said he found that her description — of a silver sedan without a license plate — matched up with the records for Thompson’s gray Impala, as it was not registered until mid-May. Additionally, the officer said Thompson fit the woman’s rough description of the driver.

A trial on the two charges is set for Nov. 9.