A man found guilty of trafficking and sexually assaulting two people has learned his prison sentence.
Last year, Billy Ray Wiley, 52, was charged with two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of criminal sexual conduct, one with a minor. On Friday, Wiley was sentenced to 40 years in prison; he will also face mandatory conditional release terms and lifetime predatory-offender registration.
As previously reported, the East Metro Human Trafficking Task Force was investigating Wiley, who, according to the Washington County Attorney’s Office, was seeking out vulnerable women and girls in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and offering rides, drugs or money before bringing them to an apartment in Mahtomedi.
According to the criminal complaint, authorities responded to the apartment complex on June 30, 2025, after a 14-year-old girl was found outside screaming and showing signs of drug intoxication. Surveillance video showed that Wiley arrived at the building with the girl earlier in the evening.
At the hospital, the girl said that Wiley had given her crack cocaine and brought her to the apartment, where she was sexually and physically assaulted, officials said. She identified another man inside the apartment as Michael Lewis.
The Washington County Attorney’s Office said that two days earlier, Wiley picked up a 20-year-old woman in Minneapolis and brought her to the same Mahtomedi apartment. She said she was physically and sexually assaulted by Wiley, according to authorities.
Investigators found a video of the assault on Wiley’s phone, and the room shown in the recording matched the inside of Lewis’s apartment, Washington County officials said.
Other surveillance video showed Wiley transporting other young girls and women to the same apartment on other dates.
Court records note that Lewis was sentenced to 15 years of probation in January for one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in relation to the June assault.
“Sex trafficking thrives in secrecy, manipulation, and fear. Part of our job is to disrupt that cycle by intervening quickly, protecting victims, and building cases that stand up in court. I’m proud of the coordinated effort by our task force partners that brought clarity to this investigation and made sure these victims were heard. We will continue to pursue those who attempt to profit from exploitation,” said Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry.
