WILLMAR -- Wade Mitchell Owen, 22, of Willmar, received a stay of imposition on a 15-month prison sentence, a $1,000 fine and three years of probation for a felony charge of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct.
Owen was charged in Kandiyohi County with two felonies in January after he asked six young girls if they wanted a ride to school or to their bus stop or told them to get into his vehicle on Jan. 10 and 11 in Willmar and Atwater. On two instances, he asked the girls if they wanted to engage in oral sex with him. He pleaded guilty to one of the charges in a plea agreement reached Sept. 20.
Connie Crowell, first assistant county attorney, told the court on Wednesday that Owen may be on his way to more significant, sexually motivated crimes.
"He is a short step from taking the next step, which is actually kidnapping a young girl," she said.
Conversely, Mary McMahon, Owen's defense attorney, argued that her client was not close to any next step of kidnapping, rather that he was being portrayed badly by the media.
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"He was saying things that were inappropriate," she said. "That's what he has done. They were only words."
The sentence was handed down Wednesday by District Court Judge David L. Mennis. As a condition of the stayed sentence, Owen was ordered to serve 45 days in the Kandiyohi County Jail immediately and serve another 45 days in January 2009. The second portion can be deferred if he is in full compliance with the conditions of his probation.
Owen was also ordered to follow the recommendations of a psycho-sexual evaluation, complete treatment and cognitive therapy and have no contact with the victims or other juvenile females unless supervised and approved by probation. He must also register as a predatory offender and not possess or have access to pornography in any form.
He was also ordered to not be within 1,000 feet of any public or private school.
If he is compliant with all conditions during his probation period, the stay of imposition will reduce the conviction from a felony to a misdemeanor on his criminal record.
Owen apologized to the victims and their families when given an opportunity to speak before the sentence was handed down.
"I'm sorry to the girls and the families for the trouble I have caused them," he said, adding that he wants to use the treatment as an opportunity to better himself.
Crowell told the court that Owen had taken away the feeling of safety for the community's children, especially for the six young teens he approached.
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"This is a case of a parent's and a community's worst nightmare," she said. "There is enough trauma in the news today to scare children, much less have a personal experience."
The community response was immediate. On the first day the children reported the solicitations to school officials and police, the Willmar School District sent out letters warning students, and police officers were sent out on special patrols. A parent in Atwater, whose daughter had been solicited the day before, helped police by reporting Owen's vehicle license plate number. Owen was arrested later the same day at his workplace in Litchfield.
