AUGUSTA — Convicted child pornographer Wade Robert Hoover, already serving a 40-year federal sentence, was ordered Wednesday to serve 60 years in prison for raping two boys who were less than 12 years old.
The judge ordered the sentences to be concurrent, meaning he will go into state custody for the additional 20 years after finishing his federal sentence. Justice Michaela Murphy said she understood that this was a de facto life sentence for Hoover, 38, a former martial arts instructor who lived in Augusta.
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This is the statement of the mother of one of the boys who was a victim of Wade Robert Hoover’s sexual assaults. The woman, whose name is being withheld because it would identify one of the victims of the sexual assaults, read this aloud to the judge at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing at the Capital Judicial Center:
Your honor,
I would like to thank you for letting me address the court today in reference to Wade Robert Hoover. We are here today to address the safety of the children of Maine and of the United States for the future generations.
A man who can commit these types of crime with (this) intensity and severity should never be allowed on the streets again. He planned and manipulated these children and drugged them. How many other children did he harm that we couldn’t prosecute for? Truly that is something to think about. So I beg you to give this man the maximum sentence so this country can be a safer place to live.
He has taken no ownership of his behavior and all he has done is prolong this procedure for these children. Please don’t allow this man any more control in the system, and sentence him to live the rest of his life behind bars.
Wade Robert Hoover, it is truly sad to think that you have wasted your entire life on a sickness that has totally taken away your freedom, your family life and your ability to contribute to this world. You went to college, you served in the United States Armed Forces and you had a successful business, and it is now gone. You have thrown everything away. I know that in time I will totally be able to forgive you, but at this point I am not completely there yet. As it is written in the Bible, that we are to forgive one another as God has forgiven us, it is something that I am striving for. I don’t wish you harm, but I do feel that the citizens of this world need to be protected from you. So whatever this court gives you for sentencing today, I will be done with it. My life will continue as it always has. I will continue to love my family and embrace every situation that God puts in front of me. May somehow you find contentment in your situation and truly find a relationship in the Lord.
Thank you, your honor, for allowing me to speak.
The indictments against Hoover say the gross sexual assaults of the two children occurred between December 2008 and February 2010 in Augusta and in April 2012 in The Forks in Somerset County.
On Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh told the judge that Hoover’s sexual assaults on the children were “reprehensible, heinous and vile,” adding: “Society needs to be protected from him for as long as possible.”
Hoover had pleaded guilty to four counts of gross sexual assault on Nov. 30, 2015, at a hearing attended by the boys’ parents.
On Wednesday, one of the victims sat with his mother and with District Attorney Maeghan Maloney on a bench in the public area of the courtroom.
The boy’s mother spoke to the judge.
“Give this man the maximum sentence you can give him,” she said.
The woman said Hoover should spend the rest of his life behind bars so every child could be protected.
She addressed Hoover directly at one point, saying, “I know that in time I will totally be able to forgive you, but at this point, I am not completely there yet.” She said he had wasted his life “on a sickness that has totally taken away your freedom, your family life and your ability to contribute to this world.”
After the sentencing hearing concluded, she referred to the 60-year term as “a blessing,” saying, “It will keep the next generation safe.” She also said it should warn others, “If you do these crimes, you’ll be paying big. It’s not just a slap on the wrist anymore.”
Family members of the second victim watched the hearing as well; however, they did not speak during the sentencing hearing in the Capital Judicial Center.
One of those women broke into tears when Hoover mentioned her son’s first name and said he still cared for him.
“I am sorry for what I have done,” Hoover said. “I hope you can forgive, and hopefully your mom can move forward as you did.”
Hoover told the judge, “An elocution is a very hard statement to make because on the one hand, I want to apologize to the victims and their families. However, nothing I say will convey how truly sorry I am. Plus, for those whom I would want to convey such sentiments, (they) are too angry to believe what I say is truthful.”
Hoover, too, shed tears several times during the hearing.
The prosecutor, Cavanaugh, had asked the judge to order a 65-year sentence for Hoover. Defense attorney Scott Hess suggested a sentence in the 25- to 30-year range.
Hess said Hoover had no criminal record before these offenses and that he was in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan before being discharged honorably. Hess said Hoover struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions after returning to civilian life. Hess also noted that Hoover would be 69 at his earliest possible release date from the federal system, which is currently listed as Aug. 8, 2047.
“This is not a murder case,” Hess said. “These boys have a bright future in front of them.”
Hoover, who lived in Augusta, 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. When he was first arrested on charges in October 2013, he was working at the NAMI Maine office in Augusta as a veterans support coordinator.
On Wednesday, Hoover, in a dark green jail uniform, was brought into the courtroom in shackles. He spoke briefly with his attorney prior to the hearing, and then kept his head lowered. The metal shackles jangled when he moved from the defense table to stand at the lectern and speak to the judge.
During the hearing, seven court security personnel were ranged around the courtroom, and they moved closer to Hoover when he moved to stand up to speak.
The judge arrived at the 60-year sentence by imposing a 25-year term for the gross sexual assault that occurred in Somerset County and a 35-year term for the three gross sexual assaults in Kennebec County, saying they should be consecutive.
“The court believes that particularly because we are talking about two individual victims, differences in place and time, but primarily because we are talking about two individual human beings who were violated in this fashion, that these sentences, the 25-year and the 35-year sentences, should be served consecutive to one another,” Murphy said.
Murphy said she concluded that the victim impact was profound, that Hoover breached the trust he had with the families of the two victims, and that he recorded the sexual assaults on the boys.
Maloney, who is district attorney in Kennebec and Somerset counties, said the fact that Hoover has a state sentence to serve means he will be classified as a high-risk offender in the federal system and unable to access certain programs, such as work release available to some federal prisoners.
At the November hearing, Cavanaugh said the boy in the Somerset County case had been one of Hoover’s karate students. He said investigators found images and videos of the assaults on electronics seized from Hoover.
Earlier, he said Hoover was identified as the offender by a number of body tattoos, and the boys were identified as well.
“In many videos the children appear to be unconscious,” Cavanaugh said at the November hearing. He said the victims said they have no memory of being assaulted.
Hoover has contested his federal conviction and sentence. He filed a petition Sept. 29, 2015, in federal court containing a motion to vacate or correct an illegal sentence, saying he was tricked into pleading guilty to production and possession of child pornography in U.S. District Court in Maine. He is currently serving a 40-year sentence for those actions.
A panel of judges on the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed his sentence in June 2014, but Hoover’s latest petition has yet to be ruled on.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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