Man, 22, charged with prostitution

A man was arrested early Wednesday after another man picked him up in a location near North Lumpkin Road where prostitutes are known to frequent, the Columbus Police Department said.

Curtis Jonathan Hill, 22, was charged with prostitution and booked into the Muscogee County Jail. His preliminary hearing was set for 8 a.m. Thursday in Columbus Recorder’s Court.

An officer was in the area of North Lumpkin Road around 1:05 a.m. Wednesday when he spotted a bronze 2014 Cadenza. The vehicle stopped at an intersection with a stop sign for an unusually long amount of time before turning around in a parking lot and traveling back onto the roadway.

Police conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and asked the male driver why he was stopped in the middle of the road. The driver responded, “I was just picking up a friend.”

The officer was walking behind the vehicle when Hill, who was seated on the passenger side, opened the door. He instructed the suspect to get back into the vehicle so he could speak with him, and he complied.

Hill told authorities that he and the driver were only friends who went to the same church. Another officer was approaching the area when the passenger fled on foot and jumped a barbed wire fence, according to police.

Hill, who sustained a small scrape on his knee during the pursuit, was tackled to the ground and taken into custody.

Further into the investigation, the driver told police that he picked Hill up in the area thinking he was a female prostitute but intended to dropped him off when he learned he was not. There was no deal made or money exchanged, police confirmed.

The driver was not taken into custody.

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 11:22 AM with the headline "Man, 22, charged with prostitution."