Prosecutors are pushing back on claims that they singled out a former Minnesota state senator for federal charges after authorities arrested him in a child solicitation sting.
Justin Eichorn quit the Minnesota Senate in March after he was arrested in the law enforcement operation in Bloomington along with more than a dozen other men. A judge released the 41-year-old Grand Rapids Republican to a Duluth halfway house, and he pleaded not guilty at a hearing in April.
Most of the suspects arrested in the sting are facing state charges, which carry a maximum prison term of five years. Eichorn and at least three others were charged federally, and if convicted of attempted enticement of a minor, they face a 10-year mandatory minimum.
In a June filing seeking to dismiss the charge, attorneys for Eichorn argue that federal prosecutors are targeting him because he was a public official. The defense is not accusing prosecutors of partisan bias.
“The only difference between the state and federal prosecutions is the potential punishment,” write defense attorneys Charles Hawkins and Arthur Waldon.
The defense adds that federal prosecutors filed the case “to vindictively retaliate against Mr. Eichorn simply because he is a public office holder and exercised his First Amendment right to political association and hold office.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Bobier counters in his own filing on Friday that Eichorn has presented “zero evidence that he is prosecuted because he associated with any particular party, subscribed to any particular positions, or voiced any particular views. He has no such evidence because there is no such evidence.”
“People who take up the mantle of public trust do not acquire immunity for criminal conduct,” Bobier added.
In their dismissal motion, Eichorn’s attorneys noted that only two other men arrested during the March sting, Marawan Adel Tawleeleh, and and Alex Huerta-Sanchez had been charged federally. Tawleeleh, 32, has a prior sexual assault conviction for assaulting a 15-year-old girl.
Bobier notes that in addition to Tawleeleh and Huerta-Sanchez, the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office also charged Jorge Cazhco-Inamagua, 32, of Bloomington with attempted enticement as a result of the sting. Prosecutors allege that Cazhco-Inamagua and Huerta-Sanchez are in the United States illegally.