A new court filing in the criminal case against State Representative Brett Easterbrook alleges the Republican lawmaker spent $500 in exchange for sex from an individual he believed to be a minor.
Easterbrook was among nearly 15 men arrested as part of a sting in Escambia County on Thursday that also included at least two other public officials: Satsuma City School Board President Kory Wesley and Orange Beach Public Works Director Timothy Tucker also face charges stemming from the sting.
Authorities initially charged Easterbrook with first-degree human trafficking and prostitution but have since moved to reduce the human trafficking charge to attempted human trafficking because there was no victim in the case. The same has been applied to Wesley, who also faces a charge of attempting to elude police.
Under this law, a minor is defined as any individual under the age of 19, a difference from the state’s age of consent of 16.
The reduction takes life in prison off the table, as the charge drops from a Class A to a Class B felony.
Easterbrook had billed himself as a protector of family values and last session voted for a bill that would allow the death penalty for child predators, although it would not apply to these charges.
Tucker only faces a misdemeanor prostitution charge and is not accused of soliciting someone he thought to be a minor.
