Michelle Bennington
A city police sergeant involved in a sex sting said one of two females who answered a Backpage escort service ad asked if he was a police officer.
When he told her he was not, Sgt. Joe Carpenter said Michelle D. Bennington asked him to "show me your penis to prove it."
She said when he did, she touched his private area.
A short time later, he and other officers arrested the Florida woman and a 16-year-old girl with her at the Travel Lodge on Shallowford Road.
Ms. Bennington had left Florida after being caught in a Human Trafficking roundup in early December. She was charged with soliciting another for lewdness there. She told Florida detectives she was divorced and unemployed.
She is charged here with prostitution, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, patronizing prostitution, and trafficking for a commercial sex act.
Sgt. Carpenter said he had responded on Dec. 16 to two similar Backpage ads in the Adult Entertainment section of the website.
He said Ms. Bennington was pictured in one ad and "a very young girl" in the other. He said they were wearing suggestive outfits in the ads.
The witness said, after they exchanged texts and agreed on a price of $320, Ms. Bennington told him to meet them at room 105 of the motel. He said he entered the room, hugged them, then said, "Let's get this started." He said that is when he was asked if he was police.
He said Ms. Bennington said she had met the 16-year-old in Knoxville and they turned tricks there after getting a motel for two nights. She said they were working their way to Florida.
The witness said the young girl first said she was 19 years old. She was taken to the Workhouse, but there she admitted she was 16. He said she was a runaway.
Sgt. Carpenter said a search of the room and Ms. Bennington's vehicle turned up 20-30 condoms and $300 in cash. Those items were confiscated.
Attorney Phillip Meyer asked for a lower bond for Ms. Bennington, but General Sessions Court Judge Gary Starnes declined. He said she was a flight risk.