Man charged with witness tampering. Again.

A 29-year-old Bradenton man, who had asked a friend to talk a state witness into reversing her testimony so he would not face his original witness-tampering charge, was subsequently arrested yet again for tampering with a witness.

Terrance Lee Donovan was originally arrested on Jan. 5 after detectives investigated that Donovan had been having a four-month sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Donovan was being held at the Manatee County jail for the second-degree felony of lewd or lascivious battery when, according to a circuit court document, Donovan made phone calls to the state’s key witness, a woman, and asked her to tell the 15-year-old victim to reverse her testimony in the battery case.

“It all lies with her,” Donovan said in the conversation with the witness, according to a detective’s testimony.

A charge of tampering in a second-degree felony case was added to original charges.

According to a probable cause affidavit, while detectives monitored mail and phone calls, Donovan spoke to Anthony Dexter in late August and tried to get Dexter to speak with the woman to reverse her testimony to take away the first tampering charge.

Through Dexter and “kite messages,” or mail sent by other inmates to avoid detection, Donovan tried to get the witness to admit responsibility in the original witness tampering case.

“Tell her that she has to say that she contacted the girl on her own,” Donovan told Dexter, according to the affidavit, “that way they don’t give me that tampering charge.”

Donovan was charged witness tampering in a first-degree felony case with a $20,000 bond.

Dexter was arrested in Ohio last month for tampering in a first-degree felony case, according to Manatee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dave Bristow.

This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 3:48 PM with the headline "Man charged with witness tampering. Again.."