A Republican state senator from Minnesota has resigned following his arrest on suspicion of soliciting a minor for prostitution.
BREAKING: Republican State Lawmaker Arrested, Faces Allegations Of Soliciting Minor For Prostitution
State Sen. Justin Eichorn submitted his resignation in an email to Gov. Tim Walz, the Associated Press noted.
“I must focus on personal matters at this time. It has been an honor to serve in the Minnesota Senate," Eichorn said, according to the outlet.
🚨New: Minnesota State Senator Justin Eichorn has resigned from office after he was arrested and charged with soliciting a 16-year-old girl
Justin Eichorn had a wife and 4 young children pic.twitter.com/IOlOxBNoqU
— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) March 20, 2025
From the Associated Press:
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.
🚨 BREAKING: Sen. Justin Eichorn (R) has resigned after being arrested and charged with soliciting a minor.
His resignation follows calls from the entire GOP caucus for him to step down. Justice must be served. pic.twitter.com/rZSaTrGUQw
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) March 20, 2025
WATCH:
BREAKING: Minnesota State Sen. Justin Eichorn (R-Grand Rapids) resigns after being charged with soliciting a minor for prostitution. The body was likely about to pass a bipartisan expulsion vote against him Thursday morning. pic.twitter.com/yIohlDwXet
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) March 20, 2025
The Minnesota Star Tribune reports:
The 40-year-old husband and father of four from Grand Rapids was charged Wednesday in U.S. District Court with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor. Eichorn is accused of soliciting prostitution from a Bloomington police detective posing as a 17-year-old girl.
He was released from the Hennepin County Jail to federal officials just before 11 a.m. Thursday, and arrived in court in the early afternoon.
Eichorn entered the courtroom under guard and wearing a black polo shirt and blue jeans. He was represented by a federal public defender but told the court he intends to retain private counsel.
If he's convicted of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, Eichorn would face a minimum 10-year sentence.
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