A deputy commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Commerce arranged to pay a woman for sex after finishing up work meetings earlier this month, according to criminal charges.
Michael Shane Deal, 46, of Litchfield, was charged Monday with one count of engaging in prostitution in a public place on March 7 in St. Paul, according to the criminal complaint filed against him in Ramsey County District Court. The crime is a gross-misdemeanor.
Deal’s employment as deputy commissioner of the state Commerce Department’s financial institutions division ended shortly after his arrest that afternoon. It’s not clear whether he resigned or was terminated.
A Department of Commerce spokesman said at the time that the state’s data practices act restricted officials from disclosing the terms of Deal’s departure.
Deal could not be immediately reached Monday for comment about the charges.
The former state employee was one of several men arrested during an undercover sex sting that took place at a St. Paul hotel March 7, according to the charges.
Police placed an ad on a website advertising sexual services out of the establishment in exchange for money. Authorities say Deal was one of the men who responded.
During a text conversation with the undercover officer, Deal asked where and when the woman could meet and indicated his “sexual preferences,” the complaint said.
When the undercover officer asked if Deal was willing to pay $100 for a half hour and meet as soon as possible, he agreed and arranged to be at the hotel where she was staying after completing his work meetings, according to the charges.
He arrived at the hotel around 3 p.m. and greeted the woman with a hug inside her room, the complaint said. He was arrested after placing $100 on a dresser.
Before his work with the state Commerce Department, Deal worked for nearly 20 years in the community banking sector. He was previously senior vice president and market president at Bank Midwest in New Ulm, Minn., and market president of North American State Bank in Willmar, Minn.
Sarah Butler was appointed to replace Deal after his arrest. Butler served as the department’s chief examiner for nondepository financial Institutions and previously served as deputy commissioner with the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions
Deal is scheduled to appear in court on the charges in early June.