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Maryland police arrested Charles Wade, an activist associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, and charged him last month with prostitution and human trafficking, reports the Washington Post.

Wade, 33, founder of Operation Help or Hush, is accused of using “online ads to organize meetings between a 17-year-old girl and Johns who paid her for sex,” according to court documents, writes The Post:

Wade was arrested, the documents state, on suspicion of setting up a meeting April 25 at a Howard Johnson Inn in College Park, where the teenager agreed to have sex with an undercover detective during a sting operation.

The police report, provided to The Post by the Prince George’s County state’s attorney office, alleges that Wade was “watching” the undercover officer as he entered the hotel room in which the prostitution was scheduled to take place.

In a subsequent interview with police, the documents state, the woman said Wade was aware of her age and referred to himself as her “manager.”

Wade posted a statement last week on Twitter declaring his innocence. According to the activist, who also operates a charity, he was asked to temporarily house the teenager, who he was told was 20 years old.

He wrote:

“Hindsight is 20/20 and in my desire to help her as she was displaced, I did not protect myself. As I did not know her or her prior behavior other than substance abuse that I was told she had ‘kicked.’”

Wade faces multiple counts of prostitution and human trafficking, the Post says. His trial is scheduled to start on June 3.

SOURCE: The Washington Post | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty, Twitter

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