Chaplain Charged With Patronizing Prostitution

An undercover police sting in Chattanooga busts 11 men for allegedly patronizing prostitution.

Turns out, one of the 11 is a chaplain with Hospice of Chattanooga.

The ordained pastor is 69-year-old Frank Jump of Signal Mountain.

Chattanooga Police arrested and charged him Friday afternoon with patronizing prostitution on Watauga Street.

NewsChannel 9 went to Jump's home Friday night to get his side of the story.

He did not want to talk on camera, but off camera, he explained what he calls a stupid decision.

The chaplain says he's innocent, that he was never intending to have sex with the prostitute.

Jump says he's an author of short stories and that he was doing research for a story he's writing about street people, including prostitutes.

Jump says he wanted "firsthand experience for the story."

He says the undercover female cop never got in his car and that he never offered to pay her.

Jump says he doubts people will believe his story, but he says it's one he will tell to the judge when he goes to court.

As a chaplain, Jump works one-on-one with patients of the non-profit Hospice of Chattanooga.

Friday night, Theresa Davis, Hospice's vice president of marketing, released this statement: "We have no comment until further investigation is done. This is no reflection on Hospice of Chattanooga or the care provided."

Jump, a married man with grown children, also sits on the board of the Presbytery of East Tennessee.

His arrest, like most of the others Friday, took place within a mile and a half of Clifton Hills Elementary.