12 Men Arrested During Undercover Prostitution Sting in Northport

Police arrested a dozen men on misdemeanor solicitation charges during a weekend prostitution sting in Northport, court records and law enforcement officials confirm.

The West Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force is staffed by officers from multiple regional law enforcement agencies and a couple times a year, the unit runs sting operations to find and charge the men who solicit prostitutes in the Tuscaloosa area.

Sometimes associated with the National Johns Suppression Initiative, these semi-regular operations are conducted with the belief that human trafficking and the sex trade would wither without enough local demand to sustain them.

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According to court documents filed Monday, the WAHTTF ran an operation in Northport this weekend and posted a commercial sex ad to draw in responses.

When men arrived at an area hotel, they reportedly met an undercover officer posing as a prostitute, agreed on a price for services and exchanged money before other officers entered the room and arrested the alleged solicitors.

Court records show 12 men have been charged with soliciting prostitution in the Northport sting.

The charge is a Class A misdemeanor in the state of Alabama, and it is the general policy of the Tuscaloosa Thread to only identify suspects accused of felony crimes by name. As such, none of the men arrested this weekend will be named in this report.

For more information on the sting if and when it is released, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.