42-year-old Crystal Caponigro is charged with criminal trespass after Metro Police coaxed her out of a locked bathroom inside of Nashville Fire Station #9 in downtown Nashville at around 1 a.m.
Despite previous incidents of prostitutes, strippers, and firemen having sex inside Nashville’s Fire Halls, the department says this isn’t one of those situations, despite a 42-year-old convicted prostitute locking herself inside an inner restroom early Wednesday morning.
Metro Nashville Police were dispatched to the Nashville Fire Station #9, located at 602 2nd Ave. S. in the overnight hours into the morning of January 8th. Once on scene, officers made contact with Crystal Caponigro, who they found to be locked inside a bathroom inside the fire hall, and refused to exit. After a period of time, she agreed to exit the bathroom and stated she did not need assistance from police or fire, however she remained on the property, despite being asked to leave multiple times.
In a detailed explanation of the events leading up to her eventual arrest, Metro Nashville Fire explained that around midnight, the main phone line rang inside the station, and was answered by one of the firefighters, who eventually realized the caller was on the back porch of the building. Believing the woman was in some sort of distress, they let Crystal Caponigro into the fire station, as she told them she needed help.
Firefighters say she told them she needed a ride, or money for a cab, to get to East Nashville. When they explained they were unable to provide that, they say she asked to use the restroom, and she locked herself inside. Due to her behavior, the police were called, and she also asked them for a ride to East Nashville.
It was eventually determined she was interrupting the normal operation of the fire hall and police placed her under arrest for criminal trespass when she continued to refuse to leave the property. Caponigro has multiple prior arrests and convictions, including a guilty plea to a prostitution charge in South Carolina. Caponigro is free on pre-trial release.
Nashville Fire Department reminds everyone they are designated as a ‘Safe Place’, and will do whatever they can, within policy, to assist anyone that comes to the station for help, day or night.
