How does law enforcement carry out sting operations like the one that led to Justin Eichorn’s arrest?

Former Sen. Justin Eichorn allegedly thought he was texting a 17-year-old girl offering sex for money earlier this month. On the other end of the conversation, a team of police investigators were coordinating a highly organized sting intended to snare suspects seeking sex with minors.

Police operations of this nature require careful coordination between a multitude of law enforcement officers, some of whom are specially trained on the abbreviations needed to sound like a teenager and the lingo used by those who solicit sex.

“It takes a lot of manpower for this,” Bloomington Police Sgt. Chris Yates said. “It’s not only the days you’re doing the operation, it’s also the lead-up work, and then all of the follow-up work afterwards.”

Bloomington police arrested Eichorn on March 17 as part of the operation, which netted 13 other suspects.

Eichorn, 40, was charged in federal court last week with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor and released to a halfway house on Wednesday. Eichorn’s attorney Charles Hawkins did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Thursday afternoon.

Yates offered the Minnesota Star Tribune a window into the sting, which the department dubbed operation “I Can’t Help Myself” and other investigations like it.

The department works with a group law enforcement agencies, and collectively they carry out about two or three sting operations a year, Yates said. This month’s effort involved about 25 people and about five or six agencies, a group that includes crime analysts and detectives, the sergeant added.

The members primarily come from Bloomington’s special investigations unit, some of whom are trained to be “chatters” who study the abbreviations and texting patterns to learn how to best respond to adults they suspect of seeking minors for sex.

To be a “chatter,” officers must learn the text vernacular sometimes used by those looking to pay for sex, which includes acronyms. In Eichorn’s messages, he allegedly used shorthand such as “Qv” and “hhr” to ask if the girl was open to a “quick visit” or a “half hour” of sex.

Yates noted he thought Eichorn’s messages demonstrated experience in seeking sex online.

“Based on my professional education, I would say it wasn’t his first time doing this,” Yates said.

The investigators post fake ads, in this case on an unnamed website known for “human trafficking, amongst other things,” according to the criminal complaint against Eichorn.

For veteran officers such as Yates, it’s challenging to keep up with new websites being used for prostitution services and the shorthand terminology that suspects use.

“I’ve been doing this for 15 to 20 years, and we’re like, ‘Well we haven’t heard of that site,’ so we go onto it, and it’s scary how much is out there,” said Yates, who has 24 years of law enforcement experience, 21 of which have been with Bloomington police.

The entire sting operation typically lasts around two to three days between the “ad” posting and the arrests.

In Eichorn’s case, the timeline was longer, according to the criminal complaint. Eichorn allegedly started messaging the officer posing as a girl on March 11 before attempting to meet up six days later.

A search of Eichorn’s truck found two cellphones, a condom and around $130 in cash, according to the complaint.

Derek Archambault, a criminal defense attorney and a former prosecutor for Woodbury and other cities, said that sting operations he observed typically included officers messaging suspects over a computer instead of a phone.

In many cases, an arrest came the same day as the ads being posted, Archambault said.

One consideration for police is the question of when to make an arrest. Because soliciting is an intent crime, police need to have enough evidence to prove a suspect was intending to follow through with soliciting the minor for sex, Archambault said.

He noted that in some cases, prosecutors will be in the same room as officers to assist with picking the right timing.

Eichorn’s lawyer Hawkins argued in court Wednesday that without Eichorn having seen the girl, exchanging money or consummating a sex act, it was impossible to know his intentions.

“You don’t know what he intended to do when he arrived there!” Hawkins said in his questioning of FBI special agent Matthew Vogel, who testified on Wednesday.

Hawkins further argued that his client never negotiated or suggested a price for the transaction, and that the “ad” with photos and body measurements was meant to entice Eichorn.

A defense lawyer could quibble about police advertising adult services but then setting up the suspect with a minor, which is more serious than adult solicitation, Archambault added.

In the ad that Eichorn responded to, it allegedly described the person offering sex as an 18-year-old woman. After Eichorn began texting the undercover officer and asked her age, the officer said she was a 17-year-old girl.

“That’s where it opens the door for defense where you can say, ‘Look, he was looking for an 18-year-old, and they gave him a 17-year-old; that’s not on him,‘” Archambault said. “That’s not a great argument, but it’s something.”

Overall, however, Archambault said sexual solicitation cases are typically hard to win for a defense attorney given the thoroughness of the police investigations.

“Generally, it’s wrapped up pretty tight with the investigation and juries look pretty disfavorably on these things,” Archambault said.