Minnesota state senator resigns after he was charged with soliciting a minor for prostitution

ST PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Republican Minnesota state senator who was caught in a sting operation resigned under fire Thursday after he was charged with soliciting a minor for prostitution, stepping down before the Senate could vote on whether to expel him.

Justin Eichorn, of Grand Rapids, submitted his resignation in a brief email to Governor Tim Walz, saying: “I must focus on personal matters at this time. It has been an honour to serve in the Minnesota Senate.”

His former colleagues expressed relief.

“Decisive action needed to take place, and we did not want this to cloud up the issues of the budget going forward, and the things that Minnesotans really need,” Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, of East Grand Forks, told reporters.

“So we want to take care of this quickly and be done with this.”

Eichorn, 40, has been jailed since his arrest in Bloomington on Monday in an undercover operation targeting commercial sex involving juveniles.

At Eichorn’s first court appearance Thursday, Magistrate Judge Shannon Elkins ordered his release to a halfway house with GPS monitoring once a space opens up. She ordered him to have no unsupervised contact with minors and only restricted, monitored access to computers and the internet. He did not enter a plea. His next court appearance is set for Wednesday.

Federal defender Aaron Morrison, who represented Eichorn only for the purposes of Thursday’s brief hearing, told the court that Eichorn was still in the process of hiring a private lawyer. Morrison declined to take questions afterward.

The nameplate on Eichorn’s desk in the Senate chamber was removed before Thursday’s floor session. Afterward, Johnson said the charge was “so severe” and the charging documents so “very damning” that his members agreed unanimously that the rare step of expulsion was justified and they were prepared to vote him out.

“This would’ve been a cloud hanging over the Senate. We don’t need another one of those,” he said. “So now we’re able to get back to work.”

Investigators had placed multiple ads online offering sex for money, according to the charging documents. Eichorn exchanged text messages with an undercover officer purporting to be a 17-year-old girl for several days until they arranged a meet-up, where he was arrested.

“I saw your post and (sic) chance you are still available tonight?” one asked, according to an FBI affidavit, while a later message asked, “What’s a guy gota do to get with the hottest girl online tonight.”

After his arrest, officers seized two cellphones, a condom and $129 in cash.

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