Former WMATA employee sentenced for a class E felony, Solicitation of a minor for aggravated statutory rape

For immediate release: January 21, 2020

The following news release was issued by the WMATA Office of Inspector General.

Former WMATA employee Christopher A. Riggins, 55, of Laurel, was sentenced today to two years of judicial diversion supervised by the Tennessee Department of Correction for soliciting a minor in 2018, WMATA-OIG Inspector General Geoffrey Cherrington announced today. He was ordered to undergo psychosexual evaluation and will be on the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry. Riggins was sentenced by Judge Scott Green, in Knox County, Tennessee after pleading guilty to a class E felony, Solicitation of a minor for aggravated statutory rape (T.C.A. 39-13-528).

While on official travel for WMATA, Riggins was arrested on September 14, 2018, after arranging to meet with an individual he believed to be a fifteen-year-old girl for a sexual encounter. The individual with whom Riggins was communicating was, in fact, an undercover Knoxville Police Department investigator. Riggins was taken into custody and charged with felony Solicitation of a minor for aggravated statutory rape.

Immediately following the arrest, WMATA-OIG notified Metro management, at which time Riggins was placed on administrative leave and barred from Metro property. A subsequent internal administrative process resulted in Riggins’ termination.

Following today’s sentencing, Cherrington expressed thanks to the multiple law enforcement agencies involved in investigating the case, including the Knoxville Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Metro Transit Police Department, the Howard County Maryland Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Knoxville and Washington Field Offices, the FBI-DC Metropolitan Police Department Child Exploitation & Human Trafficking Task Force, and the Knox County (TN) Office of the District Attorney. Cherrington also recognized the work by the investigative team within the WMATA-OIG office.WMATA-OIG is an independent and objective unit of WMATA that conducts investigations relating to WMATA activities. The office encourages anyone with information about improper or illegal activity to contact the OIG hotline at 888-234-2374 or via email at wmata-oig-hotline@verizon.net.