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Former southern Utah GOP official gets probation and a fine after pleading guilty to soliciting a prostitute

This undated photo released by Washington County Sheriff's Office shows Blake Cozzens. Cozzens, a southern Utah Republican party official, has been arrested in a prostitution sting a week after a politician from a neighboring city stepped down amid allegations that he met a prostitute in a taxpayer-funded hotel room. (Washington County Sheriff's Office via AP)

  | May 17, 2018, 7:35 p.m.

A former southern Utah Republican Party official pleaded guilty this week after he was arrested in February in a prostitution sting.

Now-former Iron County Republican Party Treasurer Blake Cozzens pleaded guilty on Tuesday to class B misdemeanor sexual solicitation. After entering the plea, a judge sentenced the man to 12 months probation and a $1,000 fine.

Cozzens was arrested in February. Court documents allege he agreed to pay $100 for sex acts he discussed in text messages with a confidential informant.

Once Cozzens, 28, handed over the money, investigators arrested him, according to court documents. He was one of five people arrested in the St. George sting, in which investigators had posted ads posing as female prostitutes.

At the time of his arrest, Cozzens was listed as the Iron County Republican Party’s treasurer on the group’s Facebook page, in addition to an archived page from 2017 that lists the group’s executive officers.

But as of Thursday, his name has been removed from the group’s website, and another man had taken over the Iron County GOP treasurer role.