Detectives with the Knoxville Police Department and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested 40-year-old Ryan Patrick Garrett on a federal complaint of Coercion or Enticement of a Minor for the Purposes of an Illegal Sexual Act on Thursday.
Garrett was arrested after an investigation led by the Tennessee Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force revealed that Garrett was making plans to meet at a location in Knoxville to engage in sexual activities with a child under the age of 12.
KPD Detectives and HSI Special Agents intervened in that plan, taking Garrett into custody after he arrived to meet the child.
Garrett was booked into the Knox County Detention Facility and will have his initial appearance in the U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in Knoxville today.
The Knoxville Police Department is the lead agency of the Tennessee ICAC Task Force, which is a partnership of 74 state and local law enforcement agencies in the state as well as federal law enforcement. The TN ICAC Task Force operates under a grant from the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
