A Marine colonel arrested in a prostitution ring in 2017 in Tampa, Florida, was busted down in rank to lieutenant colonel and retired, according to Marine Corps officials.
Col. Kevin Scott’s final day in the Corps was July 31, and his date of rank to lieutenant colonel is dated for the following day.
Marine officials say Scott was never court-martialed over the incident.
He was charged with the misdemeanor of soliciting a prostitute, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Scott was on a temporary assignment to U.S. Central Command when he got caught up in a prostitution sting in Tampa Bay in October 2017.
The Tampa Bay Times reported that nearly 300 people were arrested in the sting dubbed "Operation No Tricks, No Treats.”
Arrest documents allege Scott used the website Backpage to respond to an ad for sex when he then solicited an undercover detective for sex for $80, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Backpage has since been shut down after it was seized by the FBI in April, according to Reuters.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Scott drove a government paid leased car to the location where he met the undercover detective, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
“He said he was retired and he was no longer in the Marine Corps. That’s not true,” the Tampa Bay Times quoted Judd as saying. “We had to call the government and say: ‘Hey would you like to come get your leased car, ’cause your colonel is on the way to the county jail.’”
Scott entered the Marine Corps in 1984 and his military occupational specialty was 8040, Colonel, Logistician.
Shawn Snow is the senior reporter for Marine Corps Times and a Marine Corps veteran.
