A Mahtomedi man has been put on probation for 15 years for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl who was lured to his apartment by an accomplice who gave her crack cocaine and also assaulted the teen.
Michael Lewis (Courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office)
Michael Lewis, 69, was sentenced Wednesday in Washington County District Court after entering a Norgaard plea to third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the teen’s June assault. Under a Norgaard plea, a defendant says they are unable to remember what happened due to drug use or mental health impairment at the time, but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a jury to convict beyond a reasonable doubt.
Judge Juanita Freeman gave Lewis three years in prison, then stayed the sentence for 15 years in favor of probation. He was not ordered to serve additional days in the workhouse beyond the 152 that he’d already served since his arrest.
Lewis received the presumptive sentence under state sentencing guidelines, according to a spokesman for the Washington County Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Lewis’ accomplice, Billy Ray Wiley, looked for women and girls in the Twin Cities area, often approaching them near grocery stores or in the street in Minneapolis and St. Paul. He would offer them rides, drugs or money.
Wiley, 52, of Minneapolis, was convicted by a jury in November of two counts of sex trafficking and one each of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct after prosecutors said he brought the teen and a 20-year-old woman to the Mahtomedi apartment where they were given drugs and sexually assaulted. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 26.
According to the criminal complaints:
Officers on June 30 were called to the Piccadilly Square Apartments, a 62-plus housing community near Wildwood and Stillwater roads, on a report of a teenager dancing in the parking lot and screaming, “no no no.” The person who called said an unknown man dropped her off about four hours earlier.
A man identified as 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. Officers spoke with Lewis, who said he did not know the teen.
Officers searched her purse and found several unopened condoms and drug paraphernalia.
Billy Ray Wiley (Courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office)
She was taken to the hospital, where 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 Minneapolis neighborhood.
The teen told investigators in a follow-up interview several days later that “when Wiley picked her up, she knew she would be expected to engage in sexual acts in exchange for money and drugs.” She said Wiley had given her crack cocaine and brought her to the apartment, where she was sexually and physically assaulted by Wiley and the other man. She identified Lewis as the man inside the apartment after looking at a photo.
Earlier, on June 13, a 20-year-old woman reported to St. Paul police that a man, later identified as Wiley, picked her up while she was waiting for a bus on Lake Street in Minneapolis. She said he brought her to an apartment, where he physically and sexually assaulted her.
After the assault, Wiley drove her to downtown St. Paul. Once she got out of the car, she asked people on the street for help and they flagged down an officer.
She told police he recorded the sexual assault on his phone, and investigators later recovered the video and identified the location as Lewis’ apartment.
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Law enforcement obtained a tracking warrant and arrested Wiley on July 8 when he drove by the Piccadilly apartments.
Law enforcement also arrested Lewis, and drug paraphernalia was found in his apartment.
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.
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