Colten Camacho

ST. PETER — A court trial for a 26-year-old New Ulm man facing indefinite commitment to the Minnesota sex offender program began in Nicollet County District Court Monday.

Brown County Human Services filed a civil commitment petition Dec. 3, 2020 for Level 3 sex offender Colten Camacho.

He has six convictions for engaging in prostitution with teenage girls in Brown and Blue Earth counties. Comacho is in Brown County Jail custody without bail, pending a judge’s decision after the trial.

Camacho lived in New Ulm on intensive supervised release after he was released from prison following a 21-month sentence. Other charges, including criminal sexual conduct and stalking a New Ulm police officer, were dismissed in plea deals. Camacho was accused of hiring or coercing girls ages 15 to 17 into sex acts.

Camacho claimed in court that many of the victims recanted their statements and denied special concerns assigned to him by a risk level 3 recommendation.

Attorney Noah A. Cashman of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office said court-appointed psychologist Dr. James Alsdurf of Minnetonka considered Camacho as a sexually dangerous person and sexual psychopathic personality who can’t control his sexual impulses.

“Colton Camacho refused to interview with a court-appointed attorney and psychologists,” Cashman said.

Taking the witness stand for nearly three hours Monday, Camacho testified it was right to refuse to meet with court-appointed psychologists, saying he didn’t trust them because the Court selected them.

Camacho testified he had four high school girl friends, about 10 to 20 girlfriends in his life and a couple dozen sexual partners and that his family supports him.

“My siblings were very supportive, offering me help when I got out of prison,” Camacho said.

He said becoming a police officer was a career interest, he joined the Minneapolis Police Reserve in 2015 and bought a retired police car, a 2013 Ford Taurus.

Camacho testified he knew it was wrong to solicit girls and women for prostitution.

“I didn’t respect the law and human rights,” said Camacho. He denied forcing girls to have sex with him or handcuffing them but testified he paid one of them about $200 to have sex with him.

Camacho testified he suffered from anxiety while on parole.

He later refused sex offender treatment and opted to go to the Brown County Jail instead of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program facility in Moose Lake because jail was closer to home.

He testified he hopes he is not committed and said he would live with his parents in New Ulm or in a trailer he bought while he was in jail.

Cashman told Camacho the trailer must be registered with the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Camacho said he thinks there is a low risk he will reoffend because he doesn’t want to cause trouble again.

Edina psychologist Dr. Mary Kenning testified Camacho meets the qualifications for a sexual psychopathic personality and for a sexually dangerous person.

“He’s been reluctant to admit responsibility, (saying) that he was being extorted by girls and that he was the victim,” Kenning testified. “Generally, he created severe emotional harm to victims. Generally it’s unusual for women that young to be offered money for sexual contact. It often results in anxiety, depression and disorderly later on like self-harm and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), and can lead them into the sex trade. It makes victims feel like objects.”

Kenning testified she thinks it’s highly likely Camacho will reoffend.

“I don’t think he has empathy for others. If released, he doesn’t appear to have control of his social skills,” Kenning testified. “He engaged in a 12-week, faith-based program that was not about sex offender treatment. He has such a large number of victims, some he knew, some he didn’t know, indicating he doesn’t have good behavior judgment. If you don’t see your behavior as problematic, there isn’t much reason to stop it.”

In cross examination by Mankato attorney Jennifer Lynn Thon, Kenning testified “unstructured clinical judgement is not very accurate in general, but nothing is perfect. But these are the best things we have.”

Kenning testified Camacho has “grievance-based thinking, holding others responsible for things that go wrong, lifestyle impulsivity, dysfunctional coping, reckless behavior, that it is fair he was labeled a level 3 sex offender.”