Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532 (2026)
Statutory rape by an authority figure
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) Statutory rape by an authority figure is the unlawful sexual penetration of a victim by the defendant or of the defendant by the victim when:
- (1) The victim is at least thirteen (13) but less than eighteen (18) years of age;
- (2) The defendant is at least four (4) years older than the victim; and
- (3)
- (A) The defendant was, at the time of the offense, in a position of trust, or had supervisory or disciplinary power over the victim by virtue of the defendant's legal, professional, or occupational status and used the position of trust or power to accomplish the sexual penetration; or
- (B) The defendant had, at the time of the offense, parental or custodial authority over the victim by virtue of the defendant's legal, professional, or occupational status and used the position to accomplish the sexual penetration.
- (b) Statutory rape by an authority figure is a Class B felony.
- (c) No person who is found guilty of or pleads guilty to the offense shall be eligible for probation pursuant to § 40-35-303 or judicial diversion pursuant to § 40-35- 313.
Amended by 2016 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1086,s 1, eff. 7/1/2016.
Acts 2006, ch. 973, § 1.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 42
cases (18 in the last 5 years), 2011–2026 · leading case: State v. Dycus, 456 S.W.3d 918 (Tenn. 2014).
State v. Dycus, 456 S.W.3d 918 (Tenn. 2014). “§ 39-13-532 (2010 & 2014); and any attempt, see id.”
State of Tennessee v. Petr Pompa (Tenn. Crim. App. 2017). “See T.C.A. § 39-13-532(b) (2006) (“No person who is found guilty of or pleads guilty to the offense [of statutory rape by an authority figure] shall be eligible for probation pursuant to § 40-35-303 or judicial diversion pursuant to § 40-35-313.”
State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Mullinicks, Jr. (Tenn. Crim. App. 2019). “…the legislature has amended the statutory rape by an authority figure statute to make the offense a Class B felony. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532 (b). -4-”
State of Tennessee v. Terry Fossett (Tenn. Crim. App. 2013). “Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532 (a).3 With regard to the statutory rape by an authority figure count, the State elected “the alleged act of sexual penetration occurring on February 5, 2011 in the van which was located in the field on Boston Street.”
State of Tennessee v. Margaret L. Holt (Tenn. Crim. App. 2012). “T.C.A. § 39-13-532(a). The State acknowledges that the offense of statutory rape by an authority figure does not plainly dispense with a mental element.”
State of Tennessee v. Larry Michael Berkley (Tenn. Crim. App. 2016). “See T.C.A. § 39-13-532(a)-(b). Sexual battery by an authority figure, a Class C felony, is defined by Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-13-527.”
State of Tennessee v. Jamie L. Tice (Tenn. Crim. App. 2022). “] Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532 (a). “Sexual Penetration is defined as “sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anal intercourse, or any other intrusion, however slight, of any part of a person’s body or of any object into the genital or anal openings of the victim’s, the…”
Michael D. Lewis v. State of Tennessee (Tenn. Crim. App. 2024). “See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532 (4)(b) (2015).”
State of Tennessee v. Robert M. Deunes-Cruz (Tenn. Crim. App. 2013). “See T.C.A. §§ 39-13-532, 39-15-302 (2010). The trial court sentenced the Defendant as a Range I, standard offender to concurrent terms of three years’ confinement.”
State of Tennessee v. Marcos Enrique Collazo, Sr. (Tenn. Crim. App. 2011). “Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532 (b). Statutory rape by an authority figure required that at the time of the offenses, the appellant was in a position of trust, or had supervisory or disciplinary power over the victim by virtue of the appellant’s legal, professional or occupational…”
State of Tennessee v. Edward G. Jameson (Tenn. Crim. App. 2021). “See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-13-532 (2006) (statutory rape by an authority figure); 39-15-302 (incest).”
State of Tennessee v. Robert W. Pitt, II (Tenn. Crim. App. 2023). “See T.C.A. §§ 39-13-532 (2011) (statutory rape by an authority figure); 40-35-112(a)(3) (2011) (sentencing range for Range I, Class C felony).”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532(a) — 4 cases
State of Tennessee v. Larry Michael Berkley (Tenn. Crim. App. 2016). “See T.C.A. § 39-13-532(a)-(b). Sexual battery by an authority figure, a Class C felony, is defined by Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-13-527.”
State of Tennessee v. Margaret L. Holt (Tenn. Crim. App. 2012). “T.C.A. § 39-13-532(a). The State acknowledges that the offense of statutory rape by an authority figure does not plainly dispense with a mental element.”
State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Mullinicks, Jr. (Tenn. Crim. App. 2019). “…the legislature has amended the statutory rape by an authority figure statute to make the offense a Class B felony. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532 (b). -4-”
State of Tennessee v. Buford Trammell (Tenn. Crim. App. 2019).
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532(a)(1) — 2 cases
State of Tennessee v. Shamone Davis (Tenn. Crim. App. 2026).
State of Tennessee v. Robert M. Deunes-Cruz (Tenn. Crim. App. 2013). “See T.C.A. §§ 39-13-532, 39-15-302 (2010). The trial court sentenced the Defendant as a Range I, standard offender to concurrent terms of three years’ confinement.”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532(a)(3) — 2 cases
Michael D. Lewis v. State of Tennessee (Tenn. Crim. App. 2024). “See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532 (4)(b) (2015).”
State of Tennessee v. Terry Fossett (Tenn. Crim. App. 2013). “Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532 (a).3 With regard to the statutory rape by an authority figure count, the State elected “the alleged act of sexual penetration occurring on February 5, 2011 in the van which was located in the field on Boston Street.”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532(b) — 3 cases
State of Tennessee v. Petr Pompa (Tenn. Crim. App. 2017). “See T.C.A. § 39-13-532(b) (2006) (“No person who is found guilty of or pleads guilty to the offense [of statutory rape by an authority figure] shall be eligible for probation pursuant to § 40-35-303 or judicial diversion pursuant to § 40-35-313.”
State of Tennessee v. Benjamin N. Widrick (Tenn. Crim. App. 2021).
State of Tennessee v. Margaret L. Holt (Tenn. Crim. App. 2012). “T.C.A. § 39-13-532(a). The State acknowledges that the offense of statutory rape by an authority figure does not plainly dispense with a mental element.”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-532(c) — 1 case
State of Tennessee v. David Lynn Richards, Jr. (Tenn. Crim. App. 2024).
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