WILLMAR -- The 21-year old Willmar man arrested last week for allegedly soliciting young girls is facing two felony charges of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct.
Wade Mitchell Owen made his first appearance Tuesday in Kandiyohi County District Court. The charges he faces are applied by the court when someone attempts to persuade a child 15 or younger to engage in sexual conduct. He faces three years in jail and a $5,000 fine for each charge. According to the complaint, Owen asked six young girls if they wanted a ride to school or to their bus stop, or he told them to get into his vehicle on Jan. 10 and 11 in Willmar and Atwater. On two instances, the complaint states, he asked two of the girls if they wanted to engage in oral sex with him.
None of the girls entered his vehicle, and all either walked or ran away and ignored him, according to the court documents. Two girls allegedly approached and solicited on Gorton Avenue in Willmar ran to the nearest home, and the homeowner called police. Owen was arrested Jan. 11 at his Litchfield workplace after an Atwater mother called police with a license plate number from a vehicle that the woman's daughter claimed was the same vehicle that had approached her on Jan. 10.
The plate number matched to Owen's vehicle.
The judge set unconditional bail at $50,000 and conditional bail at $30,000, with conditions that Owen have no unsupervised contact with juveniles and remain 100 yards from school facilities. His next court appearance is set for April 4.
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Owen has a prior conviction for making obscene phone calls following a citation by Willmar police in November 2003. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail, which was stayed, and fined $300.
The citation was issued after a woman and her daughter reported receiving multiple calls from Owen. Owen allegedly asked the daughter to touch herself and made other vulgar comments. The daughter also reported hearing a pornographic movie playing during another call.
-- Staff Writer Eric Ebert contributed to this story.
