![Myron Pope was vice President of student sife at UA before his arrest. [Photo/Hannah Saad] Tus Al Myronpope 2919](https://radioimg.audacy.com/aiu-media/USATSI17716428-2bc052c0-c58a-4a51-91df-4fce3fad89db.jpg?width=800)
A man who was serving as the vice president of student life for the University of Alabama was one of 15 men arrested this month during an undercover sting.
Myron Pope, 50, was attempting to pay for sex work services, according to The Tuscaloosa News. Pope resigned from his position at the university after he was charged with soliciting prostitution, said the outlet.
According to Academic Life, a group that offers education leadership training, Pope obtained three degrees from the University of Alabama, was a walk on football player for the school’s 1992 national championship team and is a native of Sweet Water, Ala.
After he established “a distinguished higher education career in Oklahoma,” at the University of Central Oklahoma, the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, he returned to the University of Alabama in 2020 to take on the vice president role. In the role, he oversaw fraternity and sorority life, parent and family programs, student governance, the student life leadership team, the UA Student Center, housing and residential communities and more.
“We understand this news will be difficult for our community,” said University of Alabama President Stuart R. Bell in an announcement regarding Pope’s resignation in a Feb. 18 email. “... Please continue to take care of yourselves and one another.”
Steven Hood is listed as the student life division interim vice president.
Pope’s arrest came as part of a two-day operation in Northport, Ala.
Capt. Phil Simpson, commander of the West Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force, said the sting 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. He said the agency’s goal is to prevent exploitation of human trafficking victims coerced into prostitution.
The West Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force was created in November 2018 after Tuscaloosa, Northport and the University of Alabama police departments reached a mutual aid agreement along with the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
All of the 15 men arrested in the sting this month arranged to meet and pay for sex through an online app, said the the Tuscaloosa Police Department. Once they met at an agreed upon location and spoke with an undercover officer, the men were arrested. Another 10 men were arrested during an undercover operation earlier this month.
“We hope these operations targeting buyers show that we take this very seriously,” said Simpson.
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