Update Sept. 27, 2019

The State Attorney's Office has agreed to drop a solicitation charge against Doug Russell if he complies with terms of a deferred prosecution agreement.

Russell signed the agreement Sept. 20, according to Leon County court records. As part of the agreement, he must refrain from any violations of law, cooperate with any requests for information by prosecutors and pay a $100 fee. He also must get tested for sexually transmitted diseases.

Sept. 20, 2019 story

Doug Russell, a longtime lobbyist and immediate past chairman of Seminole Boosters, Inc., was arrested earlier this month for solicitation of prostitution in an apparent Tallahassee Police Department online sting operation that happened a year ago.

Russell was given a notice to appear in court on Sept. 6 after meeting with an investigator at the office of his attorney, Richard Greenberg, according to a TPD report. On Monday, Greenberg filed a notice saying Russell waived his arraignment, pleaded not guilty and would seek a trial by jury.

Greenberg said Russell was never placed in handcuffs, taken into custody or booked into the Leon County Detention Facility.

“There is no evidence at all that Mr. Russell met anyone to engage in sexual activity in exchange for money,” Greenberg said. “We entered a plea of not guilty, and we’re going to be going through the criminal justice system.”

The report says Russell responded last year to a listing on an unidentified website known to advertise for sexual services. The listing included a sexual image and a phone number. It was not clear whether law enforcement posted the listing as part of an undercover investigation.

At least one other man was the subject of a similar investigation around the same time, according to police records; he was given a notice to appear in court last month on a single count of solicitation. Officer Damon Miller, spokesman for TPD, declined to answer questions, including why it took roughly a year for arrests to be made and how many others may have been arrested.

“This arrest is a part of an ongoing investigation,” he said.

The report says several communications between Russell and the phone number listed in the ad were “recovered” by TPD. During one exchange, Russell allegedly wrote, "Hh GFE," an apparent reference to half an hour of a "girlfriend experience," and was told it would cost $120.

He asked where they should meet but got no response, according to the report. During a subsequent exchange, he again was told in code that a half hour would cost $120. He asked where and was given a location.

“The suspect stated he would have to meet the following day and indicated he could not meet at his location because he was in an office,” the report says.

The report doesn’t indicate whether Russell actually traveled to meet the person with whom he communicated. Greenberg said he never did.

Russell's lobbying clients include Comcast, Bay Medical Center and Tallahassee Retail Ventures, LLC, which purchased part of the Tallahassee Mall’s property several years ago as part of redevelopment of the site.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.