Former Vanderbilt football player, police officer Cassen Jackson-Garrison guilty of statutory rape

A Knox County jury convicted Cassen Jackson-Garrison, a former police officer and Vanderbilt University football star, of statutory rape charges months after a different jury deadlocked on whether to convict him.

Jackson-Garrison was found guilty Jan. 12 of grooming and having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 2021. The convictions on nine of 10 counts included charges of solicitation of a minor, rape and statutory rape, among others.

Jackson-Garrison’s sentencing is scheduled for March 1.

In a separate case in 2016, Jackson-Garrison was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old girl while he was on patrol duty in Oak Ridge. He later plead guilty to statutory rape and official misconduct charges in 2017 and received supervised probation. His charges were dismissed after completing the two years of probation.

Before he was a police officer in Oak Ridge, Jackson-Garrison served as a probationary officer at the Knoxville Police Department, according to Knox News’ archives, but left the day after he was accused of exposing himself.

Jackson-Garrison played football at Central High School in Knoxville and Vanderbilt University.

Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Connect with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tyler_whetstone.

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CORRECTION: The number of charges former police officer and Vanderbilt football player Cassen Jackson-Garrison was convicted of was incorrectly reported in the original published report. He was convicted of nine charges, not 10.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Former Vanderbilt football star, police officer guilty of statutory rape