A deputy commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Commerce was among several men arrested in an undercover prostitution sting in St. Paul.
Police took Michael Shane Deal, 46, of Litchfield, Minn., into custody on Tuesday about 3 p.m., according to a police report.
Deal, who could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday, was deputy commissioner of the state Commerce Department’s financial institutions division, but was no longer an employee of the department as of Wednesday evening.
He worked for nearly 20 years in the community banking sector. He previously was senior vice president and market president at Bank Midwest in New Ulm, Minn., and market president of North American State Bank in Willmar, Minn.
“Shane Deal’s appointment with the Commerce Department has ended, effective immediately,” Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman said in a statement Wednesday.
It wasn’t clear whether Deal resigned or was terminated. A Commerce Department spokesman said the state data practices act restricted what information he could disclose.
The St. Paul police undercover prostitution detail at a hotel on Tuesday was “aimed at curbing demand,” said Steve Linders, police spokesman. Deal “responded to an ad for sex and sexual acts,” according to a police report.
Police arrested Deal and others, and expect to present their cases this week to the St. Paul city attorney’s office for charging consideration, Linders said.
Deal, who was booked into the Ramsey County jail on suspicion of soliciting prostitution, was released from custody on Tuesday about 10 p.m., pending further investigation.
Deal was one of four deputy or acting deputy commissioners at the Commerce Department, which oversees many professional licenses, banks, telecommunications and other markets.
Rothman said he was appointing Sarah Butler as the department’s acting deputy commissioner for financial institutions. She is currently the department’s chief examiner for non-depository financial Institutions and previously served as deputy commissioner with the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions.
Rachel E. Stassen-Berger contributed to this report.