A former deputy commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Commerce admitted to arranging to pay a woman for sex after finishing up work meetings this past spring, according to court records. Michael Shane Deal, 47, of Litchfield filed a petition last week to plead guilty to one count of engaging in prostitution in a public place.
The gross-misdemeanor charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor per the terms of a plea agreement reached with the state, the petition says. The arrangement calls for a day jail sentence for Deal that will be stayed for one year. His petition was made public on the same day Deal was scheduled to appear in court for a hearing in his case in Ramsey County District Court. 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. Deal was one of the men who responded. He arrived at the hotel around 3 p. Before his work with the state Commerce Department, Deal worked for nearly 20 years in the community banking sector. By Sarah Horner shorner pioneerpress.
