Madisonville Police Officer Jeffrey Covington Indicted on Charges of Planting Meth in Ex-Wife’s Vehicle

A Madisonville, Texas police officer has been indicted in a public corruption case.

Jeffrey Covington has been indicted by a Madison County grand jury on Monday on public corruption and narcotics charges, related to a scheme to plant methamphetamine on an innocent person.

The 37-year-old Madisonville Police Department officer has been charged with delivery of a controlled substance, obstruction or retaliation, and official oppression.

Covington allegedly attempted to recruit several narcotics informants to place methamphetamine in the vehicle of Laura Covington, his ex-wife. According to court records, the former couple had been embroiled in a lengthy child custody battle.

State prosecutors assert that after the methamphetamine was planted in Laura Covington’s vehicle, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper was told that she used the vehicle to distribute narcotics. A traffic stop revealed the planted methamphetamine.

The DPS trooper that found the narcotics arrested Laura Covington, and booked her into the Madison County Jail for possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

David Glickler, an assistant attorney general for the State of Texas, informed Laura Covington that the charges against her were dismissed.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office was asked to prosecute the case by Madison County District Attorney Brian Risinger, who recused his office from the case.

If Jeffrey Covington is convicted on the third-degree felony charge of obstruction or retaliation, he could face from two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The state jail felony charge of delivery carries a possible term of up to two years in a state jail and up to $10,000 in fines, and the official oppression charge is a Class A misdemeanor.