The ex-mistress and pill supplier for disgraced former Knox County Judge Richard Baumgartner was caught in a recent Sheriff’s Office prostitution sting.
Authorities charged Deena Castleman, 38, for promoting prostitution and impersonating a licensed professional at a motel on Merchants Drive.
She was one of 15 people the Knox County Sheriff’s Office vice unit arrested during a series of stings last week that targeted suspected prostitutes and unlicensed massage parlors.
Castleman was Baumgartner's mistress and, as a TBI investigation revealed, supplied him with illegal prescription drugs while he was on the bench just prior to his public fall from grace five years ago.
Baumgartner, who presided over such high profile cases as the Thomas D. Huskey serial killing case and the prosecution of four people in the Christian-Newsom homicides, stepped down in early 2011 as details began to emerge that he had carried on an affair with a woman in the drug court that he supervised, using her to secure prescription pills for a drug habit.
He admitted to official misconduct and received a diversionary sentence in state court. He was allowed to keep his state pension.
Then, federal authorities stepped in, securing indictments against him for what's called misprision of a felony, for which a jury convicted him in 2012. He then lost his pension.
An undercover officer with the KCSO on March 16 set up a one-hour $175 appointment with Castleman after viewing a posting on Backpage.com under a listing for escorts.
He met with her at the Motel 6 on Merchants Center. At the time she told the officer that “she was only doing massages and accepted the money for massages only,” according to the incident report. She was then taken into custody.
In addition to Castleman, the Sheriff's Office also arrested:
- 32-year-old Tina J. McFall at her residence on 9th Street for promoting prostitution. Her boyfriend, 33-year-old Jeffrey D. Penson, who is alleged to have been providing security for McFall while she performed sex acts for money, was also arrested.
- 26-year-old Amber L. Reneau was arrested for promoting prostitution, possession of drug paraphernalia, and two counts of simple possession after she made a deal with an undercover detective at a motel on Lovell Road. Reneau was also wanted in Jefferson County for violation of probation.
- 39-year-old Terry L. Boggs was arrested for promoting prostitution and resisting arrest at a motel on Cedar Bluff. Her alleged security, 46-year-old Adrian K. Rivers, was charged with promoting prostitution and being a fugitive from justice. (He allegedly fled from Volusia County, Florida to Knoxville to avoid prosecution in a criminal matter.)
- 42-year-old Holly A. York was arrested for promoting prostitution after making a deal with an undercover detective at a motel on Lovell Road.
- 23-year-old Jordan E. Turner was arrested for promoting prostitution and possession of drug paraphernalia at a motel on Campbell Station Road.
- 26-year-old Zachary T. Thompson, Jr., 21-year-old Eric Hickman, 37-year-old Brandon Willis, and 32-year-old James L. Swanson were arrested for patronizing prostitution.
- 37-year-old Crystal H. Myers was arrested for prostitution within 1.5 miles of a school. This is Myers’ second encounter with KCSO’s Vice Unit. She was arrested on October 29th last year for promoting prostitution and pled guilty to prostitution in January.
- 58-year-old Bayou Wang and 60-year-old Wan Cuiying were arrested for impersonating a licensed professional at Chinese Back Run, located at 727 North Campbell Station Road.
The Vice Unit also seized three illegal gambling devices at three businesses and seized $1,057.66.
