The State Supreme Court has upheld a conviction for William Joseph Wallace, 59, on a charge of Class C felony luring a minor by computer.

Wallace was convicted by a jury in April and then appealed the conviction, arguing that that there was not sufficient evidence to find him guilty and the trial judge should have granted his motion for acquittal. The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that there was sufficient evidence to uphold the conviction.

Wallace fell for a Minot Police Department sting operation in July 2016 and thought he was meeting a 16-year-old girl at the Sleep Inn in Minot to have sex. The girl didn’t actually exist and Wallace had been communicating with a police officer who had posted an ad on Backpage.com for three females, a 26-year-old, a 16-year-old, and a 14-year-old. Wallace indicated he wanted to meet the “fun one.” The officer posing as the girl told Wallace she couldn’t rent a hotel room because she was only 16. Wallace still went ahead with the meeting and he was arrested when he showed up for the meeting in a truck registered to his company, Bill’s Refrigeration.

The Wallace case has been the subject of numerous court proceedings. The Supreme Court had ruled in October 2018 that Wallace must be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea and be given the opportunity to go to trial because he hadn’t been properly informed that his sentence included a mandatory minimum period of five years of supervised probation. Wallace subsequently went to trial and was found guilty and Judge Richard Hagar sentenced him to five years in prison, with a requirement that he serve 20 months, and five years of supervised probation. Wallace received credit for all of the time he had previously served in prison.