Plum Springs Mayor William S. Roberts was found guilty Tuesday of soliciting prostitution but was able to avoid jail time.

A jury of two men and four women convicted Roberts, 58, on the prostitution charge in Warren District Court. The jury deliberated 10 minutes before arriving at the guilty verdict.

Roberts was arrested June 19 as part of a sting conducted by the Bowling Green Police Department.

Acting BGPD Sgt. Mitch Walker and two undercover officers who posed as prostitutes during the sting testified in court Tuesday that Roberts pulled into Diemer’s D&F Supermarket at 1232 Adams St. on that day and offered one of the officers $20 for oral sex.

Roberts did not testify at the trial.

Walker said he led the sting operation in response to numerous complaints the department had received about prostitution in the area, and that police had arrested two other men on prostitution charges that day prior to Roberts pulling into the D&F parking lot at about 2 p.m.

“We have a lot of vehicles, when they see the officers at the store, they would start circling around the block three or four times, before they would slow down to pull into the parking lot,” Walker said of the people who had been arrested in the operation.

The officers testified that Roberts had been observed circling the block a few times before pulling into the parking lot, parking far from the store facing a telephone booth where the officers were standing.

“Although we’re disappointed that the jury found him guilty, we are pleased with the sentence,” Roberts’ attorney, Dennie Hardin, said after the trial.

Hardin said the Warren County Attorney’s office had offered Roberts a 60-day jail sentence probated for two years in exchange for a guilty plea.

Soliciting prostitution is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and/or a $250 fine.

During the trial, jurors listened to an audio recording and saw a video of the incident involving Roberts. Both audio and video were recorded by the police department and showed that Roberts and the undercover officers talked for nearly 10 minutes.

The recordings depicted the officers talking with Roberts, asking if he was interested in having a little fun.

On the audio, Roberts is heard asking the officers if they are police before asking for oral sex.

The officers testified that Roberts said he had to pick up his nephew off the bus at 3 p.m. that day and would meet with one of them the following morning at 9 a.m. to “discuss” the proposition.

Roberts’ offer to pay $20 for sex is not heard on the audio or video recordings.

Hardin seized on that to argue that there was no agreement on a fee.

“There’s no quid pro quo, no consideration, no mention of money,” Roberts said in his closing statement to jurors.

Assistant Warren County Attorney Steve Todd said in his closing argument that the arrest could only have happened if the officers had heard the offer of $20 for sex and that Roberts had not been targeted by police.

“At no time in the video do you hear Roberts say, ‘I don’t know who you are, leave me alone,’ ” Todd said. “He suggests the act, not the officers. If you become suspicious, you leave, you don’t sit there and keep talking.”