Blake Cozzens, Former Iron County GOP Chairman and current member of the Utah Republican State Central Committee, was arrested in a prostitution sting in St. George on Tuesday.
The St. George Spectrum reports Cozzens, the current Treasurer of the Iron County GOP, was one of five men caught up in the sting operation that took place in two Southern Utah counties.
Police reportedly placed advertisements posing as a female prostitute. Cozzens allegedly traveled from Cedar City to St. George where he paid $100 at the scene for a sex act. He was arrested at the scene and later released on bail.
Cozzens resigned from his position with the Iron County GOP on Wednesday afternoon.
Cozzens ran for state legislature in 2014, challenging incumbent John Westwood for the GOP nomination. Westwood defeated him in the Republican convention that year.
Cozzens has also been a vocal opponent of SB54 and has been working on the “Keep My Voice” petition initiative.
Cozzens’ arrest comes just one week after St. George Republican Jon Stanard was forced to step down from the Utah Legislature because a British newspaper was about to publish a story that he paid a prostitute twice for sex during 2017.
