MEMPHIS, Tenn. — According to the Shelby County criminal database, a businessman, father and graduate of Memphis University School faces a charge of indecent exposure. But when WREG got the tip about Andrew Crosby’s run-in with the law, we wanted to know more. When we went to the database, we realized it would be harder to find that information than a typical case.
Usually, the public would be able to find documents related to Crosby’s charge in the online database, but this case didn’t have any. His mugshot also didn’t come up in the public search portal.
When we went to the Shelby County Courthouse trying to get answers, we obtained a copy of an affidavit detailing what happened on May 16 at Crosby’s home in the gated community of Goodwyn Green Circle.
The family of the 14-year-old alleged victim didn’t want to do an interview, but her father gave a statement to WREG. In it, he said his daughter was attending a sleepover with her friends at Crosby’s home, when she “was subjected to extremely vulgar and inappropriate behavior.”
According to the affidavit, she and two other 14-year-old girls were in a room. She was the only one awake. The teen told police she heard a noise, turned around and saw Crosby naked and masturbating as he looked at her two sleeping friends. According to the affidavit, the teen gasped and her eyes met Crosby’s. When a cellular phone went off, he left the room.
The father tells WREG, “My family filed a police report that afternoon and immediately sought guidance from our pastor.”
After that, records showed the District Attorney file the indecent exposure charge three weeks later on June 8.
On WREG’s second attempt to get documents at the courthouse, we obtained the criminal summons issued on June 10 for Crosby. It showed he was supposed to turn himself in, show up for booking and processing and have a mugshot taken on July 1. He even signed the document. But deputies told us they could never find any evidence a mugshot was taken.
“It’s unusual,” said attorney Phil Harvey, who has nothing to do with this case, but has handled a lot of other criminal defense cases.
WREG also submitted a formal, written record request for Crosby’s mug shot on July 22, which we previously couldn’t find online where it would normally be. That’s when we heard back from a Shelby County attorney admitting they’d made an “error.” The lawyer said Crosby was issued a new order “instructing him to be booked and processed today.”
That’s when Shelby County officials finally emailed a mugshot of Crosby.
Harvey stopped short of calling this special treatment.
“That is a coincidental sequence of events,” he said.
WREG asked Leslie Ballin, one of Crosby’s attorneys, why his client wasn’t processed like most other defendants. He said he didn’t know.
Crosby’s former colleague Rob Volmer, of Crosby-Volmer International Communications, sent a statement about his “lifelong friend,” calling him “a strong Christian, a devoted father and husband.” He went on to say, “talk to anyone that knows Andrew and you will hear the same thing, he is a good upstanding and morally-sound person.”
Mark McDaniel, Sr., another one of Crosby’s attorneys, declined an interview on his client’s behalf, but also sent a statement that Crosby “…is not guilty, has made no admission of guilt, the matter has been resolved between the parties and his case is scheduled for dismissal at a later date.”
But the documents WREG had to fight to get tell a different story.
A “consent order on continuance” is another document the public won’t find online; it was only available at the courthouse.
In the order signed on July 20, a judge ordered Crosby to stay away from the victim, the victim’s family and the school where the daughters attend.
The judge also ordered Crosby to continue counseling and to follow his therapist’s recommendations.
In the order, prosecutors say it’s their “intention to dismiss the case on January 15, 2021.”
The victim’s father says in his statement to WREG: “If he follows these three restrictions for six months, Mr. Crosby gets the benefit of having this lewd incident removed from his record.”
WREG asked the Shelby County District Attorney’s office to explain why Crosby is getting that option, but they declined to comment due it to being an ongoing case.
The father calls it all “a shocking affront to community values.”
The victim’s father said his family is also concerned about the charge itself, stating there’s a loophole in Tennessee law making Crosby’s actions permissible because he was on private premises (his own home). The family says it’s now pushing state lawmakers to close the loophole.
