By Michelle Griffith, Minnesota Reformer
State Sen. Justin Eichorn, R-Grand Rapids, was arrested in Bloomington on suspicion of soliciting a minor for sex.
Bloomington Police led Eichorn, 40, to believe he was talking to a 16-year-old girl and then met the senator and arrested him Monday near the 8300 block of Normandale Ave., according to a Bloomington Police Department press release.
Police say they saw Eichorn arriving in the area by pick-up truck and arrested him without incident outside his vehicle.
Eichorn was booked into the Bloomington Police Department jail and will be transported to the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center, the release said. Felony charges of soliciting a minor to practice prostitution are pending, Bloomington police said.
“As a 40-year-old man, if you come … looking to have sex with someone’s child, you can expect that we are going to lock you up,” Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said in the release. “I have always advocated stiffer penalties for these types of offenses … We need our state Legislature to take this case and this type of conduct more seriously.”
Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, said in a statement that he just learned about Eichorn’s arrest and will comment later.
Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, in a statement, said the allegation against Eichorn is “deeply disturbing.”
“The felony allegation against Sen. Eichorn is deeply disturbing, and raises serious questions that will need to be answered by the court, as well as his caucus and constituents.”
Eichorn’s arrest complicates efforts by Senate Republicans to expel DFL Sen. Nicole Mitchell from the upper chamber, following her arrest last year after she was alleged to have burglarized her stepmother’s home.
Although some Democrats — including Gov. Tim Walz and some of Mitchell’s colleagues — have called on Mitchell to resign, the ethics case against her has been blocked by Democrats, who say expulsion should only come after she’s received due process in the courts. Her trial is scheduled for after the session.
Republicans have said she’s brought dishonor to the institution and should be immediately expelled, even before a criminal trial.
During debate about a motion to expel Mitchell, Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, R-Fergus Falls, said doing so would restore integrity to the Senate.
“We don’t need the results of a criminal trial to know Sen. Mitchell’s conduct fails to meet the standards of ethical behavior that we expect from senators,” Rasmusson said in January.
That argument presumably now applies to Eichorn, as well.
Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.
