Farmington police officer arrested in prostitution sting

An off-duty Farmington police officer was arrested during a prostitution sting in Layton on Thursday, police said.

Lt. Shane Whitaker, 41, of Syracuse, was one of eight men arrested after Layton police placed a prostitution ad on a website, said Layton police Lt. Quinn Moyes. Undercover officers scheduled appointments with johns, then set up a female decoy at a local hotel. The eight were arrested after offering money for sex acts.

Six of the eight were booked into the Davis County jail. Whitaker was not booked because he has brought people to that jail as police officer, and he may not have been safe there, Moyes said. Whitaker was arrested about 1:30 p.m. He was cited for patronizing a prostitute, a class B misdemeanor,fingerprinted and released. One other john, a Salt Lake City man, was also cited and released because police were arresting another man.

Whitaker is now on paid suspension until an internal affairs investigation determines what consequences will come from the charges, said Farmington Police Chief Wayne Hansen.

“We're just in total shock and dismay,” he said.

The Farmington Police Department has only 18 officers, and Whitaker's actions “rocked the whole department.”

Whitaker has been on the squad for 18 years, and served as interim police chief for about two months in 2001 when then-chief Jeff Jacobson died. Hansen took over afterward.

“We're all really close,” Hansen said. “It's been devastating.”

sltrib.com

7/3/2010