An Augusta man who pleaded guilty last month to federal charges of producing and possessing child pornography faces a separate state indictment charging him with gross sexual assault on a boy under age 12.

The indictment against Wade Robert Hoover, 35, by a grand jury in Somerset County was unsealed Thursday, according to Somerset County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney.

Hoover, who has been in custody since October, pleaded guilty Feb. 5 to the child pornography charges in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

“We are going forward (with the state charge) and looking for a consecutive sentence,” Maloney said Friday.

The charge of gross sexual assault carries a maximum prison term of 30 years. Maloney said a judge set bail on the new state charge at $100,000.

In the federal system, Hoover faces a minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years for the production of child pornography charge, and up to 10 years on the possession charge. He is represented in that case by Virginia G. Villa. It was not immediately clear Friday who will represent him in the state court system.

Hoover was arrested Oct. 3 by state and federal agents at the Bangor Street office of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Maine, where he worked. At that time, he was charged with possession of sexually explicit materials of minors under age 12, a felony offense carrying a five-year maximum sentence.

However, that charge was later dismissed in favor of the federal charges, where convictions carried longer sentences.

Along with working at the alliance, Hoover was owner and chief instructor at Koshowarrior’s Martial Arts and the United Martial Arts academies in Lewiston, where he taught children as young as age 3, according to Maine State Police.

Federal authorities used search warrants on several dates in October to seize items from Hoover’s Augusta home and from the Koshowarrior studio. Among the items collected, according to court documents, were a DVD/CD containing account data, video and still cameras, memory cards, external hard drives for computers, documents and prescription bottles.

Hoover told investigators that in early June he took two children who were students at his martial arts studio for two nights to a cabin in The Forks Plantation and took pictures and video of himself sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy who had taken sleep medication.

Investigators said parents of the boy noted he appeared to be under the influence of substances when he arrived home, and Hoover told investigators he brought his medication for sleep and anxiety to the cabin.

The gross sexual assault indictment alleges that offense occurred between April 1 and April 30 in The Forks, Somerset County.

Another video taken from Hoover’s computer shows Hoover and an unidentified man sexually assaulting another boy, Hoyt’s affidavit says.

Hoover also told investigators that he used his personal laptop to download child pornography via the network at the NAMI offices in Augusta. Kennebec County Superior Court documents say he lost that job as a result of his arrest.

Betty Adams — 621-5631
badams@centralmaine.com