Minnesota State Senator Now Charged in Federal Court With Soliciting Minor for Sex

The Minnesota state senator arrested for soliciting prostitution from a police detective posing as a 17-year-old girl resigned his seat Thursday morning, less than an hour before the legislative body was set to take a vote on expelling him.

Justin Eichorn, a 40-year-old married father of four who had served as a Republican senator since 2016, was arraigned Thursday afternoon in federal court and ordered to a halfway house pending his next hearing on March 26, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He will remain jailed until a halfway house bed is available, and he is prohibited from any contact with unaccompanied minors and barred from leaving the state.

He made no comment in court except to acknowledge he understood the charges.

Eichorn was arrested on Monday in Bloomington after he spent several days making arrangements with what he thought was a juvenile girl, as CrimeOnline reported.

Shortly after the state filed charges against him on Wednesday, federal authorities charged him with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, and the state charges were dismissed. The federal complaint said that he showed up for his “appointment” with a condom and $129 in cash he needed to pay for the session, the Star Tribune reported.

Eichorn sent a text message on March 11 to a phone number in an online ad and then arranged to meet. The undercover agent told him she was under 18, but he was not deterred. He was arrested outside his vehicle shortly before 6 p.m. on Monday.

Earlier on Monday, Eichorn and five of his senate colleagues introduced a bill to make “Trump derangement syndrome” an official mental illness in the state of Minnesota.

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