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(KNOX) – A University of North Dakota professor was arrested in Polk County for allegedly soliciting someone they believed was a minor for prostitution.
Qianli “Rick” Chu, 50, is charged with felony hiring or agreeing to hire someone who he believed to be least 16 years old, but under the age of 18, for prostitution.
Court records said that Polk County law enforcement, alongside members of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s Human Trafficking Investigations Task Force, carried out an undercover operation to identify individuals looking to hire underage girls for commercial sex acts.
The crime has a maximum five-year prison sentence if there is a conviction in the case.
Chu was a chemistry professor at UND.
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