Andy Baggenstoss
Tennessee's largest bail bond owner has been caught in a sex sting in Chattanooga.
Thomas Andrew "Andy" Baggenstoss, 43, was booked at the Hamilton County Jail late Wednesday on a charge of trafficking for commercial sex. It is a felony charge.
Chattanooga Police officers said they were conducting an undercover Internet prostitution sting at a hotel on Shallowford Village Drive.
They said Baggenstoss answered an ad by calling the number listed. Officers said he was told it was for sex with a 17-year-old female. They said he agreed to meet her at the hotel.
Police said Baggenstoss arrived at the hotel and gave the undercover officer $100 in cash. He then grabbed the breast of the undercover female officer before being arrested, an affidavit says.
Baggenstoss is the owner of Cumberland Bail Bonds among other bonding companies stretching across East and Middle Tennessee.
He is also the owner of Tennessee Recovery and Monitoring, which provides alcohol detection devices and GPS ankle bracelets to court defendants in numerous Tennessee counties.
A judge in Marion County in 2017 suspended the bonding privileges of Baggenstoss companies after one of his agents was caught soliciting clients for pay with sex instead of money.
Baggenstoss formerly lived at Council Fire in Chattanooga, but he gave an address of 10100 Fox Cove Road in Knoxville.
Baggenstoss quickly made a $50,000 bond.
Others arrested in the sting include:
Gregory Lebron Joiner, 60, of 4521 Rogers Road
William A. Fugate, 44, of Riceville, Tn.
Khadim Gueye, 33, of 950 Spring Creek Road
Michae Keshawn Scarlett, 22, of Houston, Tex.
Jerome Stewart, 25, of 3702 Skylark Trail