MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis police say they’ve arrested the man who advertised a 14-year-old girl for sex, and then arranged to have her meet officers and FBI agents at a Parkway Village motel.
Posing as customers, the detectives responded to an online ad and were told to go to hotel on the 5100 block of American Way, which matches the address of the Rodeway Inn.
Once there, they say the victim told them at Arthur Hopkins had placed the ads and that he was her pimp. When they found him downstairs by the pool, they say he told them the same thing.
It’s a sad, but surprisingly common, trend said Rachel Haaga, executive director of Restore Corps, which works with trafficking victims, including the girl rescued Saturday.
“Just in the last month we’ve received five referrals of juveniles,” said Haaga. “The youngest referral has been 10 this year.”
Hopkins has no prior pimping charges in Shelby County, but was arrested twice in 2013 for allegedly beating his girlfriend.
WREG has learned from past court documents that Hopkins has at least one child of his own and turns 29 on Tuesday.
He’s due in court for a hearing on Wednesday.
