Minnesota state Sen. Justin Eichorn (R) was arrested for soliciting a teen on Monday, authorities said, hours after he introduced a bill proposing “Trump derangement syndrome” (TDS) as a form of mental illness.
Bloomington Police Department detectives had communicated with Eichorn, who was under the assumption he was talking to a 17-year-old female, police said. He arrived Monday to meet the teen in person but was instead met by local officers.
He was later booked at the Bloomington Police Department jail and was expected to be transported to the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center. A felony charge of soliciting a minor to practice prostitution was pending, authorities said in a statement Tuesday.
“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…We need our state legislature to take this case and this type of conduct more seriously.”
Eichorn, who is married with four children, represents St. Paul, Minn., according to his legislative profile.
This is his third term as a senator and he serves as the ranking minority member on two committees, including the State and Local Government Committee.
Eichorn’s bill defines TDS as an “acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons” triggered by reactions to President Trump’s administration and its policies, characterized by symptoms such as intense verbal hostility toward Trump and potential acts of aggression against Trump supporters.
He co-sponsored the bill alongside four Republican state senators on Monday.
In the wake of Eichorn’s arrest, his colleagues have urged him to resign.
“We are shocked by these reports and this alleged conduct demands an immediate resignation,” Minnesota State Republicans wrote in a statement, posted on X. “Justin has a difficult road ahead and he needs to focus on his family.”
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