Former Republican Minnesota state Sen. Justin Eichorn‘s wife has filed for divorce on the day new charges were filed against him following his arrest as part of an underage sex sting, according to reports.
Brittany Eichorn filed a petition for dissolution of marriage in Itasca County Court Monday, Northern News Now reported. Brittany, 40, and Justin Eichorn, one of the legislators who proposed a law to classify “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as a mental illness, share four children together.
Eichorn was to be allowed conditional release, but that has since been revoked after investigators say the 40-year-old organized with a woman from Grand Rapids to retrieve items, including a computer, from an apartment he used when he was away from home working in the state capital of Minnesota, St. Paul.
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He did this despite reportedly being made aware that his calls from jail would be recorded and monitored. “Eichorn’s conduct evidences a willingness to conceal material facts from the Court and to do so at the expense of public safety,” prosecutors said, according to the Daily Mail.
The alleged ploy failed, however, as FBI investigators had already secured the apartment. They reportedly found cash, a handgun and ammunition and an iPhone that had been wiped to factory settings, among other items including memory cards.
The former lawmaker resigned last Thursday after he was caught up in an operation targeting the procurement of commercial sex involving juveniles. He was snared by cops in Bloomington on March 17 after allegedly thinking he was meeting up with a 17-year-old girl he was messaging, which turned out to be an undercover officer.
The police seized a condom, two cellphones, and $129 in cash. The politician was reportedly arrested outside his vehicle moments before he was due to meet the fictional girl.
Bloomington Police Department Chief Booker T Hodges on Monday offered more details in a press conference. “The decoy had told him that they live with their aunt and that their aunt was gone until next week. And then Justin had asked if he could have sex in his car,” he said.
Prosecutors also argued that he should remain behind bars because his messages to the fake girl detailed “clear familiarity with soliciting commercial sex from minors.”
“Eichorn’s messages and conduct reveal an experienced operator,” prosecutors argued in their application to keep him jailed for the time being. “His pretrial release brings with it a real risk that he would attempt to victimize other minors in the community.”
Eichorn is scheduled appear again before a judge in a pre-trial hearing on March 26.
Attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in prostitution is a felony that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.
