BREAKING: Top Pentagon Official Arrested In Human Trafficking Sting

The chief of staff for the Defense Department’s bureau overseeing elementary schools was arrested on suspicion of soliciting prostitutes as part of an undercover dragnet operation that rounded up dozens of alleged johns and victims.

Steve Hovanic, who lists himself on LinkedIn as Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA), was photographed along with more than two dozen other perps accused of pandering, drug possession, prostitution & pimping. Hovanic, 64, was charged with pandering during a two-day operation by the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office. Coweta is approximately 25 miles southwest of Atlanta.

A DODEA page listing Hovanic’s more than three decades of public service was abruptly taken down as of Wednesday morning. A spokesperson for the agency did not respond to a request for comment by Stripes.com.

Six victims were saved during the operation, according to Sergeant Toby Nix.

“The victims were taken to an undisclosed ‘safe house,’ where they will receive the help they need to move forward from the heinous crime of human trafficking,” he said, adding that three of the arrested individuals will be charged with pimping.

NEW: Pentagon official Stephen Francis Hovanic reportedly arrested in a human trafficking sting in Georgia where over 2 dozen people were arrested for pandering, drug possession, prostitution & pimping.

It gets worse. Hovanic worked for the Department of Defense, specifically… pic.twitter.com/EJvxep2BCj

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 22, 2023

Hovanic, an honorably discharged veteran who attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, began his academic career in 1982 as a high school vocational teacher, coach and school administrator for Virginia public schools, according to his DODEA biography. He joined DODEA in 1996 as an assistant principal at Quantico Middle-High School and later served as principal of Dahlgren Unit School.

In 2008, Hovanic moved to Peachtree City as an instructional systems specialist and was named chief of staff two years later, according to his biography.

The personnel mishap is another black eye for the Biden administration which last month fired an immigration official who celebrated the killing of Israelis by Hamas. Sam Brinton, the disgraced, non-binary former Homeland Security employee accused of stealing women’s clothing from airport luggage, was recently levied with more charges. Tangentially, a close friend of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and former Democratic mayor was sentenced to 30 years in prison for child pornography charges. The White House has so far not commented on Buttigieg’s association with the individual or previous warm words for his former friend.