When deputies responded to a call about a teenager in distress in a Mahtomedi parking lot, evidence at the scene and their “gut feelings” led them to call the sergeant in charge of the East Metro Human Trafficking Task Force.
The resident of the apartment building who made the call to law enforcement and the Washington County sheriff’s deputies’ quick actions helped get a 14-year-old out of a “terrible situation,” Washington County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Danelle Erickson said Thursday.
Two men were charged Thursday with sexual assault and one is also accused of sex trafficking.
“It’s heartbreaking to know these men brought a 14-year-old girl into our community and sexually assaulted her,” Washington County Attorney Kevin Magnuson said in a statement.
Investigators obtained surveillance video showing other incidents of the suspect bringing females “in various intoxicated states” to the Mahtomedi apartment over the prior weeks, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The trafficking task force is aware of two teenage victims and three adults victims, Erickson said. The suspects have been charged in connection with the 14-year-old and Erickson said additional charges are possible.
Teen found in apartment lot screaming ‘no’
Officers were called to the Piccadilly Square Apartments, a 62+ housing community near Wildwood and Stillwater roads, on June 30 on a report of a teenager dancing in the parking lot and screaming, “no no no,” said the criminal complaints. The person who called said an unknown man dropped her off about four hours earlier.
A man identified as 69-year-old Michael Lewis stepped out the front door of the apartment. The teen, later identified as the 14-year-old, pointed to him and said she was with Lewis and one of his friends.
Michael Lewis (Courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office)
Lewis said his veteran’s affairs counselor had just gone to his apartment to give him cigarettes and he believed the teen was with the counselor.
EMS took the teen to the hospital. East Metro Human Trafficking Task Force investigators met with her and asked how she knew the man who brought her to the apartment. She said he was a “friend,” who she referred to as “Billy,” and she said he often drove around her neighborhood.
“When asked what happened inside the Mahtomedi apartment, (the teen) said that ‘Billy’ walked her to the apartment where another man was inside,” the complaints said. She identified Lewis as the man inside the apartment after looking at a photo.
The teen said “Billy” gave her crack cocaine. She “nodded her head yes when asked if anything sexual happened in the apartment,” the complaints said.
Officers identified “Billy” as Billy Ray Wiley, 52, of Minneapolis. Surveillance footage showed he arrived at the apartment, where Lewis lives, with the teen. When she ran out of the building later, the surveillance video showed the girl’s “actions and movements were drastically different from when she arrived at the apartment.”
Billy Ray Wiley (Courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office)
Law enforcement spoke again with the teen on Monday, “who was noticeably in better condition than on June 30.” She said Wiley would find her walking around a grocery store by her house and “just pick her up. There was no time or location planned, Wiley would just find her,” the complaints said.
She “stated that when Wiley picked her up, she knew she would be expected to engage in sexual acts in exchange for money and drugs,” which is also what happened the day he brought her to Lewis’ apartment, the complaints said.
Another teen found in car with suspect
When Wiley drove by the Piccadilly apartments, officers pulled him over and arrested him.
“In a spontaneous statement, Wiley asked an officer if it was illegal to ‘pay for (expletive),’” the complaints said.
A 17-year-old girl was in the car with Wiley. She said that earlier in the day, in the area of Dale Street and University Avenue in St. Paul, Wiley “pulled up right next to her and asked her what she needed. He then gave her a cigarette and asked if she wanted to go for a ride,” the complaints said.
She said they drove around for several hours, and he “told her that she was pretty and had a nice body,” the complaints said. She said she told Wiley several times to drop her off, but he kept driving.
The teen also told officers “that many girls who are struggling with addiction hang around Dale and University” and “said that Wiley is known to pick up a lot of girls in the area,” the complaints said.
Officers searched Wiley’s car and found 13 unopened condoms and a white crystalline substance that is pending testing.
Law enforcement also arrested Lewis.
The Washington County Attorney’s Office charged Wiley with engaging in the sex trafficking of an individual under age 18 and first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Lewis is charged with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Both men remained in the Washington County jail Thursday night. Attorneys for them weren’t listed in their court files.
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‘Old-school trafficking’
At the East Metro Human Trafficking Task Force, Erickson said usually they see people posting advertisements online for sex. “That’s how traffickers usually do this,” she said.
This case was more “old-school trafficking” because the suspect was “pulling girls who are vulnerable off the street” to traffic them, Erickson said.
For anyone in immediate danger of being trafficked, call 911, said the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. Suspected trafficking situations can be reported to the East Metro Human Trafficking Task Force at 651-430-7825.
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