University of Georgia professor charged with prostitution

A University of Georgia professor of German was arrested Thursday evening by Gwinnett County police after dressing up as a woman and agreeing to have sex with an undercover officer, according to Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Jake Smith.

Max Roland Reinhart, 65, faces a charge of prostitution after agreeing to give the undercover officer 30 minutes of sexual service for $60. He also is charged with keeping a place of prostitution for renting a room at the Guest House Inn in Norcross, where he and the undercover officer met, Smith said. Contrary to what the charge of keeping a place of prostitution might seem to indicate, Reinhart did not run a brothel, but only sold his services, Smith explained.

Gwinnett County police found Reinhart, a professor in UGA’s Germanic and Slavic Studies department, through a website that regularly advertises escort services.

“Yesterday, detectives located, on a webpage called Backpage.com ... in the transsexual escort section ... a subject named Sasha advertising for Gwinnett,” Smith said.

An undercover officer met Sasha, who later was identified as Reinhart, Smith said.

“He was dressed in a woman’s fishnet body suit,” he said.

Reinhart and the undercover officer came to an agreement to exchange 30 minutes of sexual service for $60.

“After they came to the agreement, that was enough for a charge,” Smith said.

Reinhart was booked into the jail about 12:30 p.m. Thursday and was released on a $4,800 bond at 9:15 p.m.

Reinhart studies German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and teaches classes on German music and literature. He holds the A.G. Steer Professorship in Goethe Studies. Reinhart started teaching at UGA in 1988 and has held tenure since 1994.

Reinhart reported his arrest to UGA’s Office of Legal Affairs late Friday afternoon under the terms of a mandatory university policy, said Tom Jackson, UGA’s vice president for public affairs. The Office of Legal Affairs considers each employee and the charges against them when looking into an arrest, Jackson said. Any criminal investigation does not need to come to a conclusion before UGA enforces a disciplinary action, if one is warranted, according to Jackson.

“We will take appropriate action,” Jackson said. “I wouldn’t want to presuppose anything about this particular case.”

Jackson and other UGA officials found out about Reinhart’s arrest after an Atlanta TV called the school Thursday. Jackson said this is the first time he can remember a UGA professor being arrested on this kind of charge.

“I doubt we’ve ever had a case like this reported,” he said.


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