Boise Man Gets 20 Years for Sex Trafficking Minor

Michael Wayne Wade, 31, of Boise, is going to federal prison for 240 months — two decades — after admitting to sex trafficking a minor. U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced today that Wade was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release. The case, rooted in sordid digital evidence and coerced exploitation, exposes the grim mechanics of modern-day trafficking in Idaho’s capital city.

Wade pleaded guilty on August 16, 2016, after Idaho Department of Probation and Parole agents arrested him on a felony probation violation in July 2014. A search of his Nokia Lumina cell phone by Boise Police uncovered text messages with a minor and sexually explicit images of her. Investigators traced those photos to ads on Backpage.com for ‘escort services’ posted in July and November of that year — using the account of another woman, J.K., who later admitted she was being pimped by Wade.

J.K. was arrested in December 2014 and told police Wade was her ‘boss’ who ‘pimped her.’ She admitted refusing his order to use the minor for a two-girl ‘date’ but confessed to posting the teen’s images on Backpage.com — images sent directly by Wade. She acknowledged taking the 16-year-old on at least two ‘calls’ where commercial sex acts occurred, and that she took money from the minor for arranging and transporting her. Wade, she said, wanted to bring the girl ‘under her wing’ and get her ‘working.’

The minor, interviewed by investigators, confirmed everything. She said she sent self-images to Wade for the purpose of being advertised as an escort. J.K. posted them, drove her to jobs, and collected payment. At just 16 years old, the girl was thrust into a prostitution ring orchestrated by a man who saw profit in her vulnerability.

Texts and recorded calls pulled during the investigation with the FBI and Boise Police laid bare Wade’s predatory intent. He told the minor she would be a ‘star by the time I’m done with you,’ pushed her to ‘hustle all day,’ and promised J.K. would teach her ‘the tricks of the trade.’ He called her ‘all open’ and ‘down to work for the team.’ He bragged the teen had ‘mad potential’ and could ‘turn tricks’ — all while knowing she was underage.

The case was prosecuted with support from the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office and brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, the DOJ’s nationwide initiative launched in 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation. ‘This defendant callously victimized a minor,’ said Olson. ‘This sentence demonstrates that such conduct will be punished severely, and that the law protects our children from those who seek to exploit and profit from them.’

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