Former RCSO colonel pleads guilty to sex crimes

A Robertson County attorney and his ex-girlfriend have both pleaded guilty to sex crimes against minors in a bid to avoid jail time.

Former Rutherford County Sheriff's Office Col. Edward Farmer, 55, of Springfield reached a plea deal with prosecutors in Robertson County Circuit Court on Monday.

He and Catrina McQuiston, 29, of Nashville were accused of grooming, coercing and soliciting sex from two juvenile victims between January and May 2010.

Farmer pled guilty to one count of facilitation of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of attempt to commit tampering with evidence, according to court documents.

He will serve six years of supervised probation as punishment for the crimes, must register as a sex offender and surrender his law license, the documents said.

McQuiston pled guilty to one count of facilitation of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of aggravated statutory rape on Jan. 12, the documents said.

She will serve six years of supervised probation as punishment for the crimes and must register as a sex offender.

Farmer and McQuiston were both indicted by a Robertson County Grand Jury early last year.

He was originally charged with two counts of especially aggravated exploitation of a minor, two counts of conspiracy to commit especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of solicitation of a minor, two counts of criminal responsibility for aggravated statutory rape and one count of attempted tampering with evidence, according to a release from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation after their arrest in February 2014.

She was originally charged with two counts of especially aggravated exploitation of a minor, two counts of conspiracy to commit especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of aggravated statutory rape.

In court documents released Monday afternoon, Farmer maintained his innocence despite the guilty plea.

"I … deny any participation in the alleged acts," he wrote. "However, I do believe that it is in my best interest to enter into the plea agreement negotiated on my behalf by my attorneys."

Authorities said after Farmer's arrest last year that McQuiston committed sexual assault against the juveniles while Farmer watched and directed, according to the release from the TBI. The pair's indictments followed a two-year investigation by the TBI.

Farmer once held the third-highest ranking position in the RCSO until he was fired in 2005 for conduct unbecoming of an officer. He'd been with the RCSO for 11 years before becoming a target of an internal investigation when he was accused of assaulting a female deputy.

He represented former RCSO Maj. Bill Kennedy, Warrants Lt. Shelia Wright, Warrants Lt. Jeanice Jernigan and Warrants Capt. John Frost who claimed that they were "constructively terminated" from their positions by Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold due to their affiliation with the Democratic Party and former Democratic Sheriff Truman Jones.

Farmer is also a former law partner of attorneys Carrie Gasaway, the wife of Robertson County Circuit Court Judge John Gasaway; and Fletcher Long, who is serving as a defense attorney in the Vanderbilt University football rape trial in Nashville.

Carrie Gasaway and Long were both indicted last year for extortion in Montgomery County.

According to the TBI, the charges stem from a 2010 dispute between the two partners and a client, who paid them to represent her in an estate issue following the death of her father. The woman was later asked to pay another $50,000, and when she refused, the partners got an arrest warrant issued against her, the TBI said.