Black Lives Matter Organizer Charles Wade Blames Sex Trafficking Arrest On ‘Conservative Trolls’

Black Lives Matter organizer Charles Wade was arrested last month under suspicion of the human trafficking and prostitution of a 17-year-old girl in College Park, Maryland. Wade claims that he thought the girl was 20 and blames the accusations of sex trafficking on conservative trolls.

According to a police report that was circulated via social media and published in full by Love B. Scott, Wade was arrested on April 25 during an undercover sting operation.

During the sting operation, vice officers answered a backpage ad that read, “Holla at me. Quick stay specials tonight and tomorrow. Independent. Fun and sexy. Text me to set up an appointment.” The poster’s age was listed as 23, which would turn out to be false.

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The victim told police, “Oh, that’s my manager CJ— and I’m 17 years old.”

The victim was later able to positively identify the man she knew as CJ to be Charles Wade, a prominent Black Lives Matter organizer and founder of the Operation Help or Hush charity group. She claimed that Wade placed the backpage ad that listed her age as 23, communicated with the clients via text, and used Uber to move her between different hotels within Prince George’s County. After receiving payment from each client, she would turn the money over to Wade.

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According to the documents published by Love B. Scott, Wade faces multiple charges of human trafficking and prostitution, several of which carry up to a 25-year jail sentence.

Wade has denied the charges and tells a different story of the events that led up to his arrest. According to Wade, he came into contact with the 17-year-old through his Operation Help or Hush charity. He also claimed that he thought she was 20-years-old and had no idea what she was doing in the hotel room that he procured for her.

In a long statement published to Twitter, Wade blamed conservative trolls for reporting on his arrest.

“For the past two to three days, ‘trolls’ have been actively baiting conservative news outlets to report on my arrest, amongst other vindictive things that they are actively working on,” Wade wrote. “This statement is really not in defense of me or my organization, however it is in defense of a movement that ‘trolls’ are actively trying to discredit by working to prove that people in the movement are not perfect.”

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Wade also calls into question the idea that the vice squad saw him inside the hotel at the time that the undercover detective entered the room he had paid for. According to his statement, Wade was walking to a grocery store at the time those events took place, and he was arrested while walking to the store.