There are new details in the arrest last month of former MATA CEO Ron Garrison. The 60-year-old is charged with patronizing prostitution near a church or school.
Garrison was one of 42 people busted in a undercover, multi-agency human trafficking sting.
A document sheds new light on how Garrison was caught in the prostitution sting which abruptly ended his career at MATA. According to this misdemeanor citation, Garrison contacted a decoy by telephone last month, and agreed to pay 80 dollars for sex.
The citation said Garrison then went to a hotel off of Germantown Parkway and Varnavas, within a mile and a half of Saint Benedict High School in Cordova.
There, authorities said Garrison entered the room, but didn’t feel comfortable and exited the room, where he was detained and said on recording that he agreed to the exchange.
Garrison faces a charge of patronizing prostitution near a church or school.
No one answered Thursday afternoon at Garrison’s listed address. Last week, interim MATA CEO Gary Rosenfeld expressed his disappointment in Garrison’s arrest and resignation, but also offered calm to MATA riders.
“I’m more than willing to meet with any of our community leaders to put their concerns at ease in terms of the leadership of MATA, like I said, we have a wonderful group of employees, wonderful group of customers that need our support, that need to be able to rely on this service,” said Rosenfeld.
Last week, city council member Berlin Boyd requested a financial audit of MATA to make sure no public dollars by were used improperly by Garrison.
He’s scheduled to appear in court for an arraignment March 15th.
