A former spokesman for the Gwinnett County Police Department is no longer on the force after he was caught up in a prostitution sting in Barrow County last month.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith says Gwinnett Police Cpl. Brian Kelly was looking for a good time in the wrong place.

"He was looking for some companionship. It just so happened to be a law enforcement officer that he had located," Smith said, explaining that one of his undercover deputies had advertised herself as a prostitute on a website called "Backpage.com."

That online relationship culminated almost two weeks ago at a hotel in Winder, where Smith's deputies and the GBI had set up their prostitution sting. Kelly was arrested without incident and locked up in the Barrow County Jail. He remained incarcerated for two days before posting a $10,000 – and never once did anyone find out he was a cop.

"He did not let us know, so he was put in the regular population and treated like any other inmate," Smith said.

Kelly is free pending possible indictment by a Barrow County grand jury.

Meantime, one Gwinnett County's current public information officers says the department only learned of the arrest Monday night.

"He had taken some days off work here in wake of his arrest without real explanation and then had returned to shift," Cpl. Jake Smith tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.

He says its against department policy for an officer not to report his arrest to a supervisor.

Smith says when Kelly was given a letter of intent to terminate Tuesday afternoon, he resigned.

It's not the first time the officer has come under department scrutiny.  Kelly lost his position as PIO in late 2010 after admitting to sending lewd pictures of himself to another employee.

Kelly was suspended for 80 hours and returned as a patrol officer in the department's South Precinct.

He had been an officer with Gwinnett Police since 2003.