Metro Councilman Brady Banks was arrested late Thursday afternoon and charged with patronizing prostitution as part of a sting conducted by Metro police.
Banks, 33, allegedly paid $100 to an undercover police officer in exchange for sex at a hotel on Athens Way in the MetroCenter area. Banks had responded to an escort service ad posted by police on the Internet.
Banks did not immediately return a call left by The City Paper.
Banks represents the fourth district, which includes the Edmondson Pike area in South Nashville. He was elected to the seat in September 2011. He attended Harvard Divinity School and had been seen as an up-and-comer in the Democratic ranks. Banks had been considering a run for the retiring Joe Haynes' District 20 state senate seat.
Banks is the outreach director of governor's Books from Birth Foundation. He unsuccessfully ran for an at-large council seat in 2007. Banks previously served as the director of Mayor Karl Dean's Office of Neighborhoods.
Two other men were also arrested in the sting: Matthew Moynihan, 38, of Hendersonville and Jyotin Arora, 37, of Hermitage. Bond for all three was set at $1,000.