Christian Grantham
February 25, 2009

Gerald Coggin, a prominent Tennessee lobbyist for Murfreesboro-based National Health Care, has been arrested and charged with patronizing prostitution.

The mug shot for Coggin, 58, is displayed with several others on Metro Police's website. Coggin was charged on February 18, 2010.

National Health Care is one of Murfreesboro's largest employers and runs several nursing homes across the state of Tennessee.

Last Sunday, Rutherford County Mayor Ernest Burgess announced at Murfreesboro's North Boulevard Church of Christ that fellow church elder Coggin would step down immediately but wouldn't tell the congregation why. Coggin and Burgess are two of several current and former executives of National Health Care who have an active role in the church.

Coggin recently led NHC's unsuccessful effort to pass a law in Tennessee to cap damages awarded to families of abused loved ones in NHC nursing homes across the state. The legislation was sought shortly after a scathing expose in the Nashville Scene highlighting abuse at one NHC nursing home in Bristol, TN.

On September 25, 2003 a six-alarm fire at an NHC nursing home in Nashville killed sixteen residents.

Coggin could not be reached for comment.