Republican Rep. Brett Easterbrook, who has presented himself as a defender of family values, has been arrested for allegedly paying $500 for sex with someone he believed was a minor.

Alabama State Rep. Brett Easterbrook, a Republican from Fruitdale, faces charges of attempted first-degree human trafficking and soliciting prostitution after court filings alleged he agreed to pay $500 for sex with someone he believed was under 19, the age Alabama’s trafficking statute treats as a minor.

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Easterbrook, 62, was arrested on October 2, 2026, and booked into the Escambia County Detention Center around 3:30 p.m. as part of a multi-agency undercover operation in the Atmore area that ran roughly October 1–3. He was among about 15 to 17 men arrested. Two other public officials were also taken into custody: Satsuma City School Board President Kory Wesley, charged in connection with the same type of operation and with attempting to elude police, and Orange Beach Public Works Director Timothy Tucker, charged only with a misdemeanor prostitution offense and not accused of seeking someone he thought was a minor. Wesley and Tucker later resigned their posts. Easterbrook was released less than an hour after booking; early jail records did not list a bond amount.

Investigators from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, Atmore Police Department, and several neighboring agencies ran the sting, which involved online advertisements and meetings at a hotel. According to the criminal complaint and subsequent reporting on court documents, Easterbrook allegedly agreed around noon on October 1 to pay $500 in cash for sexual intercourse with an escort he believed was younger than 19. Some local accounts of the filings describe the person he was told he would meet as 18. Under Alabama’s human-trafficking law, a minor is defined as anyone under 19—distinct from the state’s age of consent of 16. No actual minor was involved; the operation used undercover officers.

Authorities initially charged Easterbrook with first-degree human trafficking, a Class A felony that can carry life in prison, plus a prostitution-related charge. Prosecutors later asked a judge to reduce the trafficking count to attempted first-degree human trafficking, a Class B felony, because the case arose from a sting and produced no victim. Escambia County District Judge James Eric Coale granted the amendment. The reduction removes life imprisonment from the possible sentence; reporting on the amended charge places the maximum at 20 years. The case can still go before a grand jury, and charges could change. The same reduction was sought for Wesley.

Easterbrook has represented House District 65—covering Washington and Choctaw counties and parts of Clarke and Baldwin—since 2018. He announced earlier in 2026 that he would not seek reelection and is not on the November ballot. He has served as vice chair of the House Insurance Committee and sat on education, state government, and transportation committees. Before politics he worked as an accountant and in home construction; he holds a bachelor’s degree from Auburn University and lives in Fruitdale with his wife.

The arrest drew attention because Easterbrook had presented himself as a defender of family values and, in the most recent legislative session, voted for a measure allowing the death penalty for certain sex crimes against children under 12. That law does not apply to the allegations against him. As of the latest reporting, he had not publicly commented on the charges.