Colton Camacho

ST. PETER — After 15 months of hearings and other legal proceedings, a 26-year-old New Ulm man on March 10 was committed as a sexually dangerous person and a sexual psychopathic personality to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) in St. Peter and Moose Lake. The commitment is for an indeterminate amount of time, the ruling stated.

In December of 2020, Brown County Human Services filed a civil commitment petition for Colton Camacho, a level 3 sex offender. He has six convictions for engaging in prostitution with teenage girls in Brown and Blue Earth counties.

Camacho was placed in the Brown County Jail custody without bail, pending a judge’s decision. He 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 claimed in court that many of his 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 Camacho refused an interview with a court-appointed attorney and psychologist.

Court-appointed psychologist Dr. James Alsdurf of Minnetonka considered Camacho a sexually dangerous person and sexual psychopathic person who can’t control his sexual impulses.

In the order, Judge Allison Krehbiel ruled Camacho has virtually no control over his behavior and knew his offenses were wrong but still offended.

In addition, she found that Camacho made no attempt to stop his harmful sexual behavior until forced to do so by the intervention of authorities, and he continues to blame the victims for the offenses by claiming they are lying about what happened.

Brown County Attorney Chuck Hanson and attorney Noah Cashman of the Minnesota State Attorney General’s Office declined to comment on the ruling.

Evidence at the commitment petition trial included documents from the Mankato Department of Public Safety, New Ulm Police Department, Brown County Attorney’s Office, Brown County Court Administration, Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department, Brown County Sheriff’s Department, Minnesota Department of Corrections, New Ulm Schools and other law enforcement agencies.