Honk News (Bloomington, MN) – A married Republican state senator from Minnesota, who has four children, was apprehended on Monday for allegedly trying to solicit sex from a minor, local officials reported. Justin Eichorn, 40, believed he was setting up a sexual encounter with a 17-year-old girl in Bloomington, but he was actually interacting with undercover detectives from the Bloomington Police Department.
Authorities arrested Eichorn without resistance when he arrived in his pickup truck to meet the supposed minor near the 8300 block of Normandale Ave. He was initially held at the Bloomington Police Department jail before being transferred to the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office is preparing felony charges against Eichorn for soliciting someone under 18 for prostitution, according to officials. Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges remarked,
“As a 40-year-old man, if you come to the Orange Jumpsuit District 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 a statement.
“I have always advocated stiffer penalties for these types of offenses,” Hodges added, urging the state legislature to “take this case and this type of conduct more seriously.”
“We are shocked by these reports and this alleged conduct demands an immediate resignation,” the Senate GOP said in a statement posted on X. “Justin has a difficult road ahead, and he needs to focus on his family.”
Eichorn, originally from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, has been a state senator since 2017. On the day of his arrest, he was among five Republican co-sponsors of a bill proposing to categorize “Trump Derangement Syndrome” (TDS) as a mental health condition.