Worker for ICE sentenced for answering police sting ad, agreeing to pay for sex at Twin Cities hotel
MINNEAPOLIS - A man working for ICE during the federal government's Twin Cities immigration enforcement crackdown has pleaded guilty and was sentenced for being among many people snared in a prostitution sting in Bloomington.
Brashad A. Johnson, 36, of St. Michael, Minn., admitted in Hennepin County District Court to a misdemeanor count of trying to hire a woman for sex on Feb. 5.
Judge Gary Larson set aside a 90-day jail term and sentenced Johnson on May 19 to a year's probation and $1,500 in fines.
Johnson worked for the U.S. Department of Defense doing security clearances for federal agencies, said Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges.
"This is the most disturbing arrest that we've had here," Hodges said at a news conference shortly after Johnson's arrest. "He is a backgrounder for ICE, Homeland Security and federal agencies. So when you're getting your security clearance, this is one of the guys that does your backgrounds, which is kind of scary. So we locked him up. … I don't think he's going to be passing a background check no time soon."
According to the criminal complaint:
Police placed sex-oriented decoy ads on a personals website. Johnson sent text messages to a phone number in one ad to an undercover officer, offering to pay $100 for sex.
Johnson went to the Best Western Hotel in Bloomington as arranged. When he entered one of the rooms, he was arrested with $100 on him and a cellphone.
"The undercover officer sent a confirmation code to the cellphone number the officer was communicating with," the complaint read, "and the confirmation code appears on the cellphone that was recovered in [Johnson's] possession."
In November, a Twin Cities-based ICE civilian employee was arrested in an underage sex sting operation by Bloomington police. Alexander Steven Back, 42, of Robbinsdale was charged in U.S. District Court in St. Paul with enticement of a minor and has a hearing scheduled for July 27.
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This story was originally published May 25, 2026 at 3:53 PM.