Atmore Human Trafficking Sting Nets 17 Arrests, Including State Rep. and School Board President

ATMORE, Ala. — A two-day undercover operation at an Atmore hotel ended with 17 people charged with human trafficking or soliciting prostitution, and among them are a sitting Alabama state lawmaker, the president of a Mobile County school board and a city official from Orange Beach, the Atmore Police Department said Monday. The Atmore human trafficking sting ran Oct. 1–3, 2026, and drew together eight law enforcement agencies from across southwest Alabama.

Atmore Police Maj. Chance Thompson said the people arrested believed they were answering online advertisements and talking to a victim or other real people. Instead, he said, they were communicating with law enforcement officers the entire time. No actual victim was involved in the operation.

Eight of the 17 people arrested are charged with first-degree human trafficking, which Alabama law classifies as a Class A felony. The other nine face charges of soliciting prostitution. All of those arrested are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in court.

Inside the Atmore human trafficking sting

According to Thompson, investigators placed advertisements online about a week before the operation began. Over roughly 48 hours, people who responded to those ads arrived at a hotel inside Atmore’s city limits, expecting to meet the person they had been messaging. Reports on the operation said law enforcement had posed online as a teenager.

What they found when they walked into the hotel room, Thompson said, was something quite different.

“Instead of it being the clientele that you had ordered on the advertisement, it’s numerous law enforcement officers coming out with vests and ‘police officer’ on their shirts, so it’s a big surprise, I’m sure.”

In a written release, Thompson described the effort as a coordinated push by the participating agencies “to target crimes involving human trafficking and the sale and exploitation of victims.” He said the operation “extended deep into the online environment, where individuals believed they were communicating with a victim and or real people through online advertisements.”

Law enforcement described the results as “eye-opening.” Thompson pointed in particular to how far some of the people arrested had come. “The distances these people traveled to come to Atmore, Alabama, to get into what they were doing that night,” he said.

The hotel was not Wind Creek, police say

Police have not named the hotel where the operation took place. Thompson did, however, move quickly to rule out the most prominent lodging in town.

“To resolve speculation, the hotel was not the Wind Creek Casino-Atmore,” Thompson said. “For priority over the investigation, and to reserve future operations, the hotel will not be listed at this time.”

Police have not said whether the hotel’s owners or staff were aware of the operation in advance.

A state lawmaker, a school board president and an Orange Beach official

Three of the people arrested hold, or recently held, public positions in the region.

State Rep. Brett Easterbrook

Brett Easterbrook, an Alabama state representative from Fruitdale in Washington County, is charged with first-degree human trafficking and soliciting prostitution. Court documents allege he agreed to pay $500 for sex to a person under the age of 19. In Alabama, the age of majority is 19.

Former Satsuma school board president Kory Wesley

Kory Wesley was president of the Satsuma City Schools board until he resigned on Friday, Oct. 2, following his arrest. He is charged with first-degree human trafficking and attempting to elude. Court records allege he offered “money to a person known to be a minor.”

Orange Beach public works official Timothy Tucker

Timothy Tucker, identified in reports as the public works director for the city of Orange Beach, is charged with soliciting prostitution. Court records allege he agreed to pay $220 for sex with an escort. One report described Tucker as the city’s former public works director; his current status with the city had not been publicly detailed as of Monday.

Southalnews previously reported on the arrests of Easterbrook and Wesley after the two were booked into the Escambia County Detention Center.

Full list of those arrested and their charges

The Atmore Police Department released the following names and charges. Thompson said three of the people arrested are in the United States illegally; police did not say which three. Those individuals were reported to face additional legal issues beyond the criminal charges.

• Nicolas Gadson — first-degree human trafficking and attempting to elude
• Brett Easterbrook — first-degree human trafficking and soliciting prostitution
• Dominque Mobley — soliciting prostitution
• Kory Wesley — first-degree human trafficking and attempting to elude
• Benjamin Holman — soliciting prostitution
• Quintero Francisco — soliciting prostitution
• Juan Teletor-Siana — soliciting prostitution
• Cody Jackson — first-degree human trafficking
• Timothy Tucker — soliciting prostitution
• George Dance — first-degree human trafficking
• Elijah Roy — first-degree human trafficking
• Bharath Vijakumar — first-degree human trafficking
• Algeber De La Cruz Cruz — soliciting prostitution
• Terry Long — first-degree human trafficking
• Joshua Martin — soliciting prostitution
• Charles Mooney — soliciting prostitution
• Austin Berry — soliciting prostitution

Some name spellings differed slightly across published versions of the list; the spellings above follow the police department’s release.

Why some face trafficking charges and others don’t

The split between the two charges is one of the most notable features of the case. Eight people face the felony trafficking count — one of them, Easterbrook, also faces a soliciting prostitution charge, and two others, Gadson and Wesley, also face eluding charges. The remaining nine face only the prostitution-related charge.

Police have not publicly explained, case by case, why each person received the charge he did. Court records describing the allegations against Easterbrook and Wesley reference a person under 19 or a minor, while the records describing the allegation against Tucker reference an escort.

Thompson said the conduct alleged in the operation fits the law as it is currently written. “Doing the actions that the people did in this operation, while looking at the statute and how it is defined right now, is human trafficking in the first degree,” he said.

According to Alabama Code Section 13A-6-152, human trafficking in the first degree is a Class A felony — the most serious category of felony in the state’s criminal code. Soliciting prostitution is a far less serious offense. Attempting to elude, the charge Gadson and Wesley face in addition to trafficking, generally involves trying to flee from or evade officers; police did not describe the circumstances behind those counts.

Jail records and bond

Thompson also addressed questions about how long the defendants spent in custody, after jail records showed what appeared to be brief stays for some of them.

He said that because of the logistics of transporting multiple defendants from the operation’s locations, the incarceration times shown in jail records may not reflect the full length of time each person was in law enforcement custody before being booked.

He added that not one individual was allowed to bond out any differently than state law outlines. In Alabama, as in other states, most people charged with crimes are entitled to a bond, which allows them to be released while their case moves through the courts. Release on bond is not a finding about guilt or innocence.

Eight agencies took part

The operation was led by the Atmore Police Department, with participation from agencies across Escambia County and neighboring counties:

• Atmore Police Department
• Escambia County Sheriff’s Office (Alabama)
• Monroe County Sheriff’s Office
• Clarke County Sheriff’s Office
• Poarch Tribal Police Department
• Bay Minette Police Department
• Flomaton Police Department
• Brewton Police Department

Atmore sits in Escambia County near the Florida state line, about an hour’s drive northeast of Mobile. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians, whose tribal police department took part in the operation, is based just outside the city. Brewton and Flomaton are also in Escambia County, while Bay Minette is the seat of neighboring Baldwin County.

What happens next

The arrests are only the first step in what will be a lengthy legal process for each defendant. Generally, in Alabama:

• Felony cases, such as the first-degree human trafficking charges, typically begin in district court. A defendant may request a preliminary hearing, where a judge decides whether there is enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury.
• A grand jury then reviews the evidence in private and decides whether to return an indictment. If it does, the case moves to circuit court for arraignment and, eventually, a plea or trial.
• Misdemeanor cases, which can include prostitution-related offenses, are usually handled in district or municipal court on a separate, faster track.

Any of the charges could be changed, reduced or dismissed as cases move forward. Each defendant has the right to an attorney and to contest the allegations against him.

What we know — and what we don’t yet

What police have confirmed:

• 17 people were arrested during an operation held Oct. 1–3, 2026, at a hotel in Atmore.
• Eight face first-degree human trafficking charges and nine face only soliciting prostitution charges; two of those charged with trafficking also face attempting-to-elude charges.
• Three of those arrested are in the United States illegally, according to police.
• The hotel was not Wind Creek Casino-Atmore.
• No actual victim was involved; the people arrested were communicating with law enforcement.

What has not been released:

• The name of the hotel.
• Which of the defendants police say are in the country illegally.
• Where each defendant lives, aside from the officials whose hometowns or jobs have been publicly reported.
• Bond amounts for each defendant and any upcoming court dates.
• Whether any defendants have retained attorneys or responded to the charges.

The officials’ positions

Wesley’s resignation from the Satsuma City Schools board took effect Friday. Satsuma is a small city in northern Mobile County that operates its own school system, separate from the Mobile County Public School System.

As of Monday, there had been no public announcement about any change to Easterbrook’s status in the Alabama House of Representatives.

Southalnews will continue to follow the cases as they move through the court system and will update this story as more information becomes available.