Colten Camacho

ST. PETER — A three-day court trial for a 26-year-old New Ulm man facing indefinite commitment to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) concluded in Nicollet County District Court Wednesday.

Brown County Human Services filed a civil commitment petition Dec. 3, 2020 for Level 3 sex offender Colten Camacho. He is in Brown County Jail custody pending a judge’s decision.

Camacho has six convictions for engaging in prostitution with teenage girls in Brown and Blue Earth counties for hiring or coercing 14-17 year-old girls into sex acts. Charges including criminal sexual conduct and stalking a peace officer were dismissed in plea deals.

Camacho served a prison sentence and was off parole for a couple months when the petition was filed.

The MSOP serves people court-ordered to receive sex offender treatment. After prison sentences are complete, courts may civilly commit indviduals and place them in sex offender treatment for an unspecified period. A civil court can commit a person for sex offender treatment if a judge determines the individual is a sexual psychopathic personality (SPP) and sexually dangerous person (SDP).

As of April 1, 2021, MSOP has 743 clients in St. Peter and Moose Lake facilities, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

While two other psychologists testified earlier this week they considered Camacho met SPP and SDP criteria and is highly likely to reoffend, Dr. Thomas Alberg of Shoreview testified he considered Camacho “not particularly impulsive with a stable work and residence history and without a drug or alcohol abuse history.”

Alberg testified to Mankato defense attorney Jennifer L. Thon that Camacho showed a willingness to sexually exploit others and that he won’t be under any supervision if the commitment petition is dismissed.

Alberg said despite a high-frequency of sexual assaults, he considered Camacho at an average risk to reoffend and does not meet SPP and SDP criteria even though two other psychologists earlier disagreed.

Noah A. Cashman of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office said a number of Alberg’s statement were inaccurate and several of Camacho’s sexual assaults were violent enough to cause victims to bleed and he showed impulsive behavior and recklessness.

Camacho testified that he worked at a Mankato auto dealer while on parole when the commitment petition was filed. In addition, he testified he attended a 12-lesson, faith-based program to “change his life and remain on the right track.”

Camacho testified it was his right to refuse to meet with court-appointed psychologists, saying he didn’t trust them because the court selected them.

He testified that becoming a police officer was a career interest and he joined the Minneapolis Police Reserve in 2015 and bought a retired squad car.

Camacho, who lived in New Ulm, testified he had 10 to 20 girlfriends in his life, a couple dozen sexual partners, and he paid a teenage girl about $200 to have sex with him.

Comacho testified he suffered from anxiety, refused sex offender treatment and opted to go to the Brown County Jail instead of the MSOP facility in Moose Lake because it was closer to home.

Attorneys have until Dec. 10, 2021 to file closing statements and written arguments. They have until Dec. 17, 2021 to respond to closing statements and arguments before the case is taken under advisement by Judge Allison L. Krehbiel.