McALESTER — A McAlester public school teacher arrested on Tuesday and charged with stalking members of two McAlester families had previously signed a deferred prosecution document last February agreeing to have no contact with them.

That’s according to allegations contained in a probable cause affidavit signed by McAlester police and filed at the Pittsburg County court clerk’s office on Tuesday.

Court documents filed in connection with the arrest of the McAlester Buffaloes head basketball coach and his wife, who is a teacher in McAlester Public Schools, allege that a series of incidents involving them and two other McAlester families have been ongoing for months.

Jerry McCormick, 44, who in addition to being a coach is also a vice principal at McAlester Public Schools, has been charged with a felony count of intimidating a witness and a misdemeanor count of false reporting of a crime, court records state.

His wife, Michelle McCormick, 42, who is a sixth grade teacher at Parker Intermediate Center, is charged with a felony count of “stalking in violation of probation condition/protective order” and “stalking in violation of a probation condition.”

She also faces a misdemeanor count of “false reporting of a crime.”

Both the McCormicks were arrested Tuesday afternoon by McAlester police and booked into the Pittsburg County Jail. They were both freed in lieu of $10,000 bond shortly after completing the booking procedure.

McAlester Public Schools Superintendent Tom Condict said that both are still employed at McAlester Public Schools and that he had no immediate plans to take any action in connection with the charges being filed.

On Wednesday, Jerry McCormick was back on the job coaching the boy’s basketball team. This morning, personnel answering phones at the school district’s administrative office said they were not allowed to say if the McCormicks were at work today.

An affidavit seeking the issuance of an arrest warrant signed by McAlester police officer Kevin Hearod on Aug. 23 states that on Feb. 2, 2010, “Michelle McCormick signed a deferred prosecution agreement where she admitted to harassing and stalking Brent and Brenda Lopresto and their children.”

“In the agreement, Michelle McCormick agreed not to have any contact with the Lopresto family,” the affidavit states.

A second probable cause affidavit states that also on Feb. 2, “Michelle McCormick signed a deferred prosecution  agreement admitting to harassing and stalking Dan and Ami Talbot and their children.” Dan Talbot is a McAlester police patrolman.

“McCormick also agreed to have no contact with the Talbots,” the affidavit states.

A deferred prosecution document from the district attorney’s office basically states that prosecution on a complaint will be deferred if the person signing the document lives up to the conditions of the agreement.

However, less than two weeks after the signing of the agreement, on Feb. 14, “the Lopresto family walked out of their garage to walk around the neighborhood,” the affidavit alleges.

The  families are neighbors in the Village area of Kinkaid Hills.

“Michelle McCormick was on the far side of her property and saw them and walked to the closest part of her property to stare at the Loprestos as they walked the other way,” the affidavit alleges.

“The Loprestos cut short their walk and turned on Village to go home” instead of going around the entire block so they would not have to walk in front of the McCormick’s house and driveway,” according to the affidavit.

“As they approached their house, they could see Michelle sitting in her vehicle parked in the driveway on the opposite side of her house facing the road,” the affidavit continues.

“If the Loprestos had gone around the block, they would have walked in front of her,” the affidavit states.

“Michelle drove from her driveway behind her house to the circle drive in front of the driveway closest to the Loprestos as they walked home,” the affidavit alleges.

The Loprestos called the police and reported the matter, according to the affidavit.

Also, the affidavit alleges that on April 2, the Loprestos and their daughter walked out of their house “And Michelle was at the street corner with her Boxer” and began  calling the Loprestos’ Yorkie. The Loprestos went back inside. Their Yorkie was not outside at the time, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit also alleges that:

• On April 3, the Loprestos were at their daughter’s soccer practice “at the soccer fields by the walking track.” Michelle, her daughter, and their Boxer came to the walking track. “As they walked the track, Michelle would stare and point at the Loprestos,” scaring their daughter, the affidavit alleges.

• On April 8, while Brent Lopresto was outside seeding the lawn, “the McCormicks continually drove by Brent,” the affidavit alleges. It states that he considered it a form of harassment.

• On April 11, “While pulling out of their driveway, the Loprestos witnessed Michelle McCormick staring and waving at them from her yard,” the affidavit alleges.

• On April 27, after attending a court hearing, “Michelle turned her poodles loose on the Loprestos,” the affidavit alleges. “They were in their own yard and the poodles came to them and barked until Jerry got on a golf cart and retrieved them,” police allege in the affidavit.

• On June 11, Brent Lopresto called police to report that he had to pull off the roadway to keep from having a collision with a golf cart driven by a member of the McCormick family, the affidavit alleges.

Later that day, city Animal Control Officer Seth Gerber came to the Loprestos residence “and told them that Michelle McCormick had called in and complained that their Beagle had been out of their yard and barking,” the affidavit states.

The Loprestos showed the animal control officer that the dog was in their yard and that the dog could not bark, according to the affidavit.

Also, the affidavit alleges that on June 21, the Loprestos heard barking outside their house and “found one of the McCormick’s dogs on their front porch, barking and harassing their cat. Michelle was standing in front of the Loprestos’ house in the street watching,” the affidavit alleges. “After she got her dog she walked back by and said hello,” the affidavit alleges.

Another allegation is that on July 30 “Brenda (Lopresto) was taking her children to band practice and she was leaving the same time she had the four days prior to that day. Jerry McCormick got in his truck and left and followed Brenda down Village. When they reached the highway, Jerry took the service road and got in front of Brenda. When they got to the school, Jerry quickly parked and strolled in front of Brenda and smiled at her. He then joined Mr. Hughes as they walked into the school.”

Other allegations accuse Michelle McCormick of driving very slowly in front of the Loprestos’ vehicle and differing accounts about an incident when both of the women were in a rest room during a meeting at the high school.

According to the affidavit, Michelle McCormick alleged that Brenda Lopresto pushed open the door to the restroom stall occupied by McCormick.

Lopresto said she had been knocking on the doors to see if they were occupied.

The probable cause affidavit regarding the Talbots allege that Michelle McCormick followed the Talbots while they were driving.

Another item states that Michelle McCormick filed a report with McAlester Police Sgt. Chris Morris on March 4, alleging that her daughter had been harassed by Dan Talbot and alleging that he made faces at her while in the Walmart Supercenter.

Morris was able to view a video recording and saw Talbot and his son enter the store and also saw the McCormicks shopping, the affidavit states.

Morris saw the Talbots leave an aisle that the  McCormicks were shopping on, according to the affidavit.

“Morris did not see anything on the video that showed Talbot harassing either of the McCormicks,” the police affidavit states. Police concluded that “It would seem the report is baseless and McCormick filed it in an attempt to harass Talbot,” the affidavit alleges.

Other allegations concern a dance held at the Parker school on March 11. When Ami Talbot arrived at the school to pick up her daughter, she saw Michelle McCormick on the other side of the room and walked to the opposite side in an attempt to avoid her, the affidavit states.

“A few minutes later, McCormick came to where Ami was standing and began dancing in front of her,” the affidavit alleges.

Ami Talbot and her daughter left. She was later told that McCormick had taken pictures of the Talbot’s daughter at the dance, according to the affidavit. After police were called, they checked the camera, and did not identify the Talbot’s child in any of the photos with enough light to see the students, the affidavit states.

On March 16, Jerry McCormick told police he wanted to file charges against Talbot for allegedly making threats against his (McCormick’s) wife, according to allegations in the affidavit.

Police said in the affidavit that on June 25, Michelle McCormick filed a citizen’s complaint against Dan Talbot. He was accused of driving by the McCormicks’ house in  his personal vehicle while he had his son with him on two different occasions.

Police concluded that Talbot himself was out of state during one of the times he was accused of driving by the home and his son was out of state, visiting, on the other time.

Michelle McCormick complained that Talbot had edged her off the road on one occasion and that on another occasion, the Talbots and Loprestos were parked in the road talking and she had to wait for them to move before  she could drive home, according to allegations in the affidavit.

 Talbot denied that he ever ran Michelle McCormick off the road. He said he recalled  sitting on the road talking to Brent  Lopresto, but he said they had pulled their cars out of the way when they saw Michelle McCormick approaching, according to the affidavit.

Police officially concluded that “the formal complaint was allegedly “just another form of harassment and witness intimidation aimed at Dan Talbot and his family,” according to allegations in the affidavit.



Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.