ST. PAUL, Minn. — Federal authorities want former state Sen. Justin Eichorn to remain in custody ahead of his trial for allegedly seeking sex with a 17-year-old girl, claiming the ex-Minnesota lawmaker lied about having access to a gun and arranged to cover up evidence that could be used against him in court.

Prosecutors on Sunday filed a motion in court seeking to bring Eichorn back to custody, alleging he asked someone to pick up a laptop, phone, and handgun from his St. Paul apartment before FBI agents could find them.

The Republican senator from northern Minnesota was arrested last week in a Bloomington prostitution sting and resigned last Thursday as his colleagues were prepared to vote to expel him from office. At his initial appearance last week, a federal judge allowed him to be released from detention ahead of trial on the condition he was subject to monitoring and stayed in a halfway house.

Eichorn, 40, a Republican from Grand Rapids, had previously told the court that he did not have access to any firearms in his St. Paul apartment, the U.S. Attorney’s office wrote. But FBI agents found a pistol and ammunition in a red bag on the kitchen counter when they searched his apartment on Friday.

In an earlier jail phone call Eichorn asked a person prosecutors identified as “Individual A,” to pick up a red bag containing a laptop — the same one agents later found in a search of the apartment, prosecutors said.

The person Eichorn allegedly contacted to retrieve the bag had driven about three hours from Grand Rapids and ran into FBI agents outside the apartment around 9:50 a.m. Friday.

She asked to enter the building, and when FBI agents said no, she said she needed to go into the apartment to retrieve a laptop she used for business.

Later during their search, agents found the red bag, which contained the laptop, a handgun and ammunition, $1,000 in cash, an SD memory card, Senate business cards, and an iPhone which appeared to have been reset to factory settings — meaning all the content on the phone had been erased.

Prosecutors noted that some iPhones can be erased remotely if a person has the proper login information, and that investigation into the devices is ongoing.

“These facts give the government, and should give the Court, serious concern that Eichorn may be attempting to obstruct the ongoing investigation into his conduct,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in its motion urging a new detention hearing for Eichorn.

The arrest

Eichorn was arrested in Bloomington on Monday, March 17, after attempting to pay for sex with a person he believed to be a 17-year-old girl he had met online, according to charges. The girl turned out to be an officer with the Bloomington Police Department, which was conducting a sting operation for underage prostitution.

He was initially arrested on a state charge, but the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office has taken up the case. Eichorn appeared in federal court in St. Paul Thursday afternoon on a federal charge of coercion and enticement of a minor. He could face up to 10 years in prison.

The senator was just one of 14 people arrested in the multi-agency effort, according to Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges. Initially, the department didn’t know Eichorn was an elected official, Hodges said.

“We had no idea who he was,” the police chief said at a Monday news conference, telling reporters he learned from another law enforcement official while on a trip to San Diego.

Hodges added it didn’t matter to him who someone was if they wanted to seek sex with minors, but said it was “unfortunate” a state senator faces a charge.

“I do believe most members of our Legislature are good folks and anytime something happens like this it just tends to tarnish that a bit,” he said.

Eichorn is the only person arrested in the sting operation facing a federal charge. Hodges said he wasn’t aware if anyone else will face federal prosecution, but that local law enforcement was already in talks with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to take the cases federal before Eichorn’s arrest.

Undercover operation

Bloomington police had been running an undercover operation targeting underage commercial sex and posted an online advertisement to which Eichorn responded on March 11, the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges. The advertisement featured images of a person who claimed to be 18.

But in messages and voice chats over several days, the undercover officer repeatedly said she was not 18, but 17 years old. Eichorn continued asking about pricing for various sex acts and arranged to meet in person, according to the charge.

In messages included in the federal criminal complaint, Eichorn allegedly asked the undercover officer about how much it would cost for a “Qv” or quick visit, or a “half hour,” and whether an “outcall” visit would be possible.

Hodges and federal prosecutors say Eichorn’s use of sex work jargon suggests familiarity and experience buying sex. The senator and undercover officer also discussed the age of consent, according to the complaint.

“I am 17…like I said don’t want any drama but wanna be upfront cause one guy got hella mad at me,” the officer posing as a teenager said.

“Why was he so mad? I think age of consent is 17 when do ya turn 18?” the senator replied, before saying he believed the age of consent was 16, and only over 18 if it involves a person in a position of authority, according to the charge.

Officers eventually arranged to meet with Eichorn at the 8300 block of Normandale Boulevard on Monday evening, according to Bloomington police. Before meeting, Eichorn asked for a verification photo of the person he believed was a 17-year-old wearing a ”bra and underwear holding up 2 fingers.”

The senator arrived in a Toyota Tundra pickup truck and was arrested by uniformed officers without incident, according to police. That truck and a GMC pickup seized in another sting remain in the possession of the Bloomington Police Department.

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Nick Ferraro contributed to this story.

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