A Minneapolis and St. Paul (Minnesota's “Twin Cities”) based employee of Kristi Noem's Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was among 16 men arrested on charges of “suspicion of soliciting a minor” during a sting operation by the Bloomington Police Department. Bloomington, Minnesota is a suburb of Minneapolis.
ICE employee Alexander Steven Back was among four people charged with agreeing to pay a 17-year-old girl for sex. The 41-year-old Back responded to a fake online ad offering sex for money, according to the criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County, Minnesota.
An undercover officer posing as a 17-year-old girl named Belka conversed with Back via text messages.
On November 13, the undercover officer wrote to Back:
“U ok if I’m a lil younger than my ad says … just wanna be honest.”
Back allegedly replied:
“Sure.”
The officer, as Bella, then disclosed:
“K cause I am 17 and one guy got hella mad at me.”
After repeating that she was only 17, the officer gave Back an address in Bloomington, Minnesota. When Back arrived to meet “17-year-old Bella” to pay for sex, he was arrested on state charges. He may also face federal charges, depending on a decision by Pam Bondi's Department of Justice.
At a November 18 press conference, Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said that over a three day period beginning on November 5, his department partnered on “Operation Creep” with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, police from Eden Prairie, Roseville and Richfield, as well as the Minnesota State Police Airport Police.
You can see a clip from the news conference here:
The Bloomington Police Chief revealed that Back tried to use his job position to either explain his being there or to curry favor with the arresting officers. Back works as an auditor for the Twin Cities-based ICE operations.
Chief Hodges told the press:
"When he was arrested, [Back] said, 'I'm ICE, boys.'"
"Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up."
People were unsurprised that an alleged sexual predator was working for ICE and tried to use it to get away with a crime.
The November operation in Bloomington is similar to a sting in March when 14 men were arrested, including former Republican state Senator Justin Eichorn, who resigned after his arrest for attempting to solicit a minor for sex.
Eichorn is facing state and federal charges, unlike MAGA Republican President Donald Trump's first choice for Attorney General, former Florida Republican Representative Matt Gaetz. Gaetz currently faces no state or federal charges, despite evidence he paid a 17-year-old girl for sex and transported her across state lines.
Bondi, Trump's eventual AG pick after Gaetz resigned from Congress and dropped out of consideration, was the Florida AG when Gaetz's crimes were allegedly committed.
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