A black imam has been arrested for patronizing a prostitute, who turned out to be an undercover police woman, authorities said

Imam Charles Aziz Bilal was arrested in a prostitution sting, agreeing to pay $25 for sex at a Howard Johnson Inn in South Jamaica, Queens, New York City. Bilal, also a chaplain at the prison on Rikers Island, has been suspended from his position with the Correction Department. The imam was arrested on Rockaway Blvd. near 137th Ave. - about 10 blocks from Masjid-Al-Hamdu-Li-Llah, a mosque run by Bilal on Sutphin Blvd. Bilal, 58, has been a chaplain on Rikers Island since 1990. He was immediately suspended without pay from his $49,000-a-year job, said Sharman Stein, a department spokeswoman. His arrest was part of an ongoing NYPD initiative, dubbed Operation Losing Proposition, which targets the customers of prostitutes. Bilal, whose job at Rikers keeps him on the lawful side of the bars, is no stranger to getting locked up. He's been arrested 18 times since 1970, sources said. His rap sheet includes arrests for robbery, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and bribery of a public official. In July 2010, a city marshal found a 9-mm. semi-automatic pistol in Bilal's 2004 Mercedes Benz after it was towed to a Queens impound lot. The incident was investigated, but no arrests were made. Bilal ran unsuccessfully for the City Council seat in his South Jamaica district in 2001.