Crime & Safety
Yea Alabama Content Director, Sportswriter Arrested In Prostitution Sting
A well-known sportswriter who currently serves as the director of content for Yea Alabama has been charged with soliciting prostitution.
TUSCALOOSA, AL — A well-known sportswriter who currently serves as the director of content for Yea Alabama has been charged with soliciting prostitution in Shelby County.
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The Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force says Robert Aaron Suttles, 49, of Hoover, was among 15 men arrested during a prostitution enforcement operation conducted Thursday in northern Shelby County.
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Suttles has since been released after being booked into the Shelby County Jail.
“We will not tolerate the victimization of vulnerable women here in Shelby County," Task Force Commander Lt. Clayton Smith said. "I believe that no woman wakes up each morning and chooses to sell their bodies because they just want to. There is always an underlying reason that they feel they have to do this to live and have no other option. We have a duty to protect them just like any other citizen. I want to thank the investigators for their passion and work in this operation."
Find out what's happening in Tuscaloosafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Suttles currently serves as director of content for Yea Alabama, the University of Alabama's official NIL entity.
"The individual is suspended and is not performing any work for us," Yea Alabama said in a statement provided to Tuscaloosa Patch. "The matter involves personal conduct unconnected to any Yea Alabama business. A legal proceeding is pending and our internal review is ongoing, so we have no further comment."
Prior to working for Yea Alabama, Suttles reported on the Crimson Tide for the Tuscaloosa News, where he was a part of the reporting team that won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in breaking news for the paper's coverage of the 2011 tornado.
He went on to cover college sports for the The Athletic.
Additional details about the investigation or the circumstances surrounding the alleged offense have not been released at this time.
Soliciting prostitution is a misdemeanor offense under Alabama law.
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