Thursday, March 28

UA student life VP Myron Pope’s arrest was part of prostitution sting


Myron Pope, a University of Alabama alum, resigned Feb. 18 as vice president of student life at UA. [Photo/Hannah Saad]

The commander of a task force said the sting that led to the resignation of the University of Alabama’s vice president of student life is part of a strategy to fight human trafficking.

Myron Pope, 50, was one of 15 men arrested Feb. 17-18 on charges of soliciting prostitution during an undercover operation in Northport. After his arrest, Pope resigned as vice president of student life, a post he had held at UA since May 2020.

Capt. Phil Simpson, commander of the West Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force, said the two-day operation was geared toward the suppression of commercial sex buyers.

“If buyers were not seeking commercial sexual services, sex trafficking would no longer be profitable,” Simpson said in a Monday news release.

“We hope these operations targeting buyers show that we take this very seriously. Our goal is to prevent future exploitation of human trafficking victims who are forced or coerced into prostitution,” he said.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *