Federal employee who did background checks for ICE arrested in Bloomington sex sting

A federal employee who police say conducted background checks for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other government agencies was arrested last week in a Bloomington prostitution sting.

Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said Department of Defense contractor Brashad Johnson, 36, of Maple Grove, was one of 30 suspects arrested as part of an undercover operation targeting people seeking to pay for sex.

“This is the most disturbing arrest that we’ve had here,” Hodges said of Johnson during a news conference on Tuesday. “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.”

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reached out to the Department of Defense for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Johnson’s arrest comes less than three months after an ICE agent was arrested in Bloomington on suspicion of soliciting sex from a minor.

Hodges said the 30 arrests as part of “Operation Lookin’ for Love in All the Wrong Places” was a Bloomington Police Department record for a single operation. He added that undercover officers posing as sex workers spoke to a total of 330 people online.

Of the 30 men arrested last week, 28 will face gross misdemeanor charges. The remaining two were booked on felony charges because they are repeat offenders, Hodges said.

One person who spoke with the undercover officers is now under investigation for potential sex trafficking.
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