A former NBA player was arrested in Tennessee as part of a sting into a sex ring targeting minors.

Jim Hubert Farmer, 55, was arrested in the sting operation in Rutherford County outside of Nashville, Tennessee. The sting ran for two days beginning on Thursday as investigators looked into alleged human trafficking and commercial sex with minors in the area.

“The focus of the operation was to identify individuals seeking to engage in commercial sex acts with minors,” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation wrote in a statement Monday.

The investigators identified potential suspects by setting up decoy ads on websites meant to draw the attention of individuals participating in the alleged sex and trafficking ring.

Using the ads, authorities identified 16 individuals, including Farmer, suspected to be involved in the ring that was subsequently arrested.

Farmer resides in nearby Franklin, Tennessee, and played college basketball for the Alabama Crimson Tide from 1984 to 1987. He was picked 20th overall in the 1987 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks. Farmer played five seasons in the NBA, with the Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Seattle Supersonics, Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers. He would continue playing international and for other leagues in the U.S. before retiring in 1997.

Farmer is facing charges of trafficking a person for a commercial sex act. He was released on $75,000 bail and his next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 13.

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Representation image of a crime scene. Gerd Altmann/ Pixabay
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