We have an update on a story we told you about on Monday… As it turns out, a 42-year old Nashville woman who was arrested in Murfreesboro after allegedly touching a child inappropriately, is a former Titans cheerleader. Elizabeth Garner was in Murfreesboro for a party and arrested after allegedly approaching a 13-year old boy and asking him “if he had ever been with a woman,” according to an arrest report. WGNS' Rafferty Cleary has more on the story.

Verbatim: The incident was said to have occurred this past February and police were notified of the accusations by DCS. DCS learned of the incident after the teen told his mother what allegedly took place.

The case was investigated and then put before the March Grand Jury where Elizabeth L. Garner was charged with aggravated sexual battery and solicitation of a minor for rape of a child.

The child told detectives that Garner approached him in the middle of the night as he headed into the bathroom. The teen says that Garner molested him. Garner apparently suggested the incident was a case of mistaken identity. The arrest report states, “Ms. Garner was advised of her Miranda rights and stated that she was drunk that evening and that she got the boy “confused” with a man that was there at the residence.”

After the Rutherford County Grand Jury indicted Garner earlier this month, detectives went to Nashville where they picked up the woman. She was transported back to Murfreesboro and taken to the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center.  

Again, former Titans cheerleader Elizabeth Garner has been arrested and charged with aggravated sexual battery and solicitation of a minor for rape of a child.

Source:

MPD Arrest Report 13-2433
TCA 39-13-504
TCA 39-13-528

Tennessee Code Annotated:

39-13-504.  Aggravated sexual battery. 

  (a) Aggravated sexual battery is unlawful sexual contact with a victim by the defendant or the defendant by a victim accompanied by any of the following circumstances:

   (1) Force or coercion is used to accomplish the act and the defendant is armed with a weapon or any article used or fashioned in a manner to lead the victim reasonably to believe it to be a weapon;

   (2) The defendant causes bodily injury to the victim;

   (3) The defendant is aided or abetted by one (1) or more other persons; and

      (A) Force or coercion is used to accomplish the act; or

      (B) The defendant knows or has reason to know that the victim is mentally defective, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless; or

   (4) The victim is less than thirteen (13) years of age.

(b) Aggravated sexual battery is a Class B felony.

HISTORY: Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 1; 1993, ch. 289, § 1.

39-13-528.  Offense of solicitation of a minor. 

  (a) It is an offense for a person eighteen (18) years of age or older, by means of oral, written or electronic communication, electronic mail or Internet services, directly or through another, to intentionally command, request, hire, persuade, invite or attempt to induce a person whom the person making the solicitation knows, or should know, is less than eighteen (18) years of age, or solicits a law enforcement officer posing as a minor, and whom the person making the solicitation reasonably believes to be less than eighteen (18) years of age, to engage in conduct that, if completed, would constitute a violation by the soliciting adult of one (1) or more of the following offenses:

   (1) Rape of a child, pursuant to § 39-13-522;

   (2) Aggravated rape, pursuant to § 39-13-502;

   (3) Rape, pursuant to § 39-13-503;

   (4) Aggravated sexual battery, pursuant to § 39-13-504;

   (5) Sexual battery by an authority figure, pursuant to § 39-13-527;

   (6) Sexual battery, pursuant to § 39-13-505;

   (7) Statutory rape, pursuant to § 39-13-506;

   (8) Especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, pursuant to § 39-17-1005; or

   (9) Sexual activity involving a minor, pursuant to § 39-13-529.

(b) It is no defense that the solicitation was unsuccessful, that the conduct solicited was not engaged in, or that the law enforcement officer could not engage in the solicited offense. It is no defense that the minor solicited was unaware of the criminal nature of the conduct solicited.

(c) A violation of this section shall constitute an offense one (1) classification lower than the most serious crime solicited, unless the offense solicited was a Class E felony, in which case the offense shall be a Class A misdemeanor.

(d) A person is subject to prosecution in this state under this section for any conduct that originates in this state, or for any conduct that originates by a person located outside this state, where the person solicited the conduct of a minor located in this state, or solicited a law enforcement officer posing as a minor located within this state.

HISTORY: Acts 1998, ch. 1007, § 1; 2000, ch. 944, § 1; 2005, ch. 496, § 5.