NORRISTOWN — Just days after her boyfriend was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the gunshot slaying of a former Reading man on the Schuylkill River Trail in West Norriton Township, a Norristown woman admitted to helping him hide out and avoid capture after the homicide and to lying to a grand jury during the investigation.
Hailey Anne Covelens, 21, of the 300 block of West Marshall Street, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court on Wednesday to charges of perjury and conspiracy to hinder apprehension in connection with helping her boyfriend, Cody Kavon Reed, hide out at various locations after his involvement in the slaying and later giving false testimony to a grand jury that investigated the homicide.
Reed, 24, who lived with Covelens at the Norristown address, was sentenced on Monday to life imprisonment, along with Marquise Alexander Johnson, 24, of East Johnson Street in Philadelphia, after a jury convicted them of first-degree murder in connection with the 9 p.m. March 2, 2023, gunshot slaying of Daquan Kennard Tucker, 25, a former Reading resident, on the Schuylkill River Trail in West Norriton.
With her guilty plea, Covelens admitted that she conspired with Brianna Rose Radley, 21, Johnson’s girlfriend, to assist Reed and Johnson with their getaway after Tucker’s homicide. Radley previously pleaded guilty to perjury-related charges and is awaiting a sentencing hearing in October in connection with her role in the scheme.
“Both Radley and Covelens were vague, non-committal and at times lied during their grand jury testimony,” county Detective Heather Long alleged in a criminal complaint. “Radley and Covelens supplied transportation, monetary funds and housing to Johnson and Reed, which allowed them to hide without detection for over a month.”
Judge Thomas C. Branca deferred sentencing Covelens on the perjury charge until November so that court officials could complete a background investigation report about Covelens.
The open guilty plea means Covelens has no deals with prosecutors regarding her potential sentence. Branca will have sole discretion in fashioning the sentence after hearing arguments from Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Alane McLaughlin and defense lawyer Keith Harbison.
Covelens, who was permitted to remain free on bail pending sentencing, faces a possible maximum sentence of 4½ to 9 years in prison on the perjury and conspiracy to hindering apprehension-related charges. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence of between probation and nine months in jail.
Covelens, wearing a COVID-style face covering, did not comment about her guilty plea as she left the courtroom on bail.
McLaughlin vowed to seek a jail term against Covelens for the perjury charges.
“When you sit for a grand jury you swear that you are going to tell the truth and that is something our legal system takes very seriously,” McLaughlin said.
“We need to make sure that when people are taking the witness stand and they’re saying they swear to tell the truth that they follow through with it. And if they don’t, there will be repercussions for that,” McLaughlin said.
Covelens testified in front of the grand jury on March 15, 2023, and lied when she said she hadn’t had contact with Reed or Radley since March 5, authorities alleged.
The investigation determined Covelens’ credit card was used to make food purchases in New Jersey, allegedly for Reed and Johnson while they were on the run.
Reed and Johnson fled from Norristown within two hours of Tucker’s March 2 slaying and remained on the lam until April 6, when they were apprehended in Atlantic City by members of the U.S. Marshals Service and local police at an Airbnb on North Rhode Island Avenue.
Detectives determined Radley rented the Airbnb in Atlantic City. A review of Radley’s Airbnb bookings also linked Radley to a March 6 rental in Stroudsburg, according to court documents.
It isn’t the first time that Covelens found herself in trouble with the law during her relationship with Reed.
Covelens, formerly of the 1100 block of Beechwood Avenue, Lansdale, previously served a sentence of 11½ to 23 months in jail, a maximum county jail term, after she pleaded guilty to charges of selling or transferring a firearm to an ineligible person, conspiracy and unsworn falsification to authorities in connection with a 2021 straw purchase scheme during which she purchased an assault rifle for Reed when he was prohibited by law from possessing a gun.
In June, Reed and Johnson were convicted of homicide charges in connection with what prosecutors said was their agreement to lure Tucker to a desolate and secluded section of the Schuylkill River Trail to kill him. Prosecutors pointed to cellphone data and video surveillance footage that indicated the three men were walking in the area of West Main and Chain streets in Norristown at 8:39 p.m. March 2, 2023, toward the trail where Tucker was ultimately killed.
Cellphone and video surveillance evidence depicted Reed and Johnson later walking away from the area of the trail without Tucker but in possession of Tucker’s cellphone after he had been shot and killed.
The homicide investigation began at about 9:03 a.m. on March 3, when a citizen riding his bicycle along the Schuylkill River Trail on the border of Norristown and West Norriton called 911 to report seeing a body, subsequently identified as Tucker, in a wooded area between the trail and the Schuylkill River.
A motive for the killing was never disclosed.
Tucker, a former Reading resident, had been staying with his girlfriend along Rogers Road in Lower Providence at the time of his death.
Source: Berkshire mont
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