A North Carolina pimp trafficked a teen girl in Miami. He’ll get federal prison time
A North Carolina pimp used Facebook to lure a 17-year-old girl to him, then brought her to Miami for online-advertised sex trafficking.
That’s all in the admission of Willie Obadiah, 32, who pleaded guilty to sex trafficking a minor in Miami federal court on Tuesday. Obadiah will get at least 10 years when Judge Beth Bloom sentences him on Dec. 5.
Obadiah used Facebook, Facebook Messenger and text messages to connect with the girl (referred to in court documents as “MV,” for Minor Victim) in February, when both were in North Carolina.
“Through his communications with the victim, Obadiah learned that she was a minor. In fact, he asked her to send a photograph of her identification card to him,” the Justice Department said. “When he saw her age on the photograph, he sent her a message stating that he wished she had a “fake id” instead.”
Obadiah quickly began to work coaching her on how much to charge for various acts and how to treat the men answering online advertisements for sex with her.
On Feb. 24, MV ran away from her foster care family in Greensboro to a friend’s house in Columbus, North Carolina. She joined Obadiah on Feb. 28, the criminal complaint says. He took her to a Charlotte hotel, where he told her she’d be turning tricks.
“Obadiah told Minor Victim that she was now part of his family,” the complaint said. “Minor Victim feared for her safety upon hearing this.”
One day and three men later, MV fearfully went with Obadiah to Miami. Obadiah used a Hialeah hotel and a Miami hotel as his base of operations. After making MV see four men, he raped her with forcible oral sex.
She ran away after a few days, Obadiah’s admission of facts says. After identifying Obadiah on his Facebook page, she got back to North Carolina.
When he returned there, he was arrested on April 19 by Charlotte-Mecklenberg police.
This story was originally published September 26, 2019 at 4:15 PM.
