Baker pleads guilty to Class A felony molestation charge

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A day before his jury trial was set to begin, a Cloverdale man pled guilty on Tuesday to a Class A felony charge of child molestation.

Jeffrey L. Baker, 50, is set to be sentenced on June 11. A conviction on the charge means he will be sentenced to a minimum of 20 years, but could receive as many as 50 years in prison.

"Mr. Baker was faced with two choices," said Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter. "Either plead guilty with no plea agreement or we would start picking a jury on Wednesday morning. The state would not offer a plea agreement. The judge will decide Mr. Baker's fate, which is a range of 20 to 50 years."

Baker has been lodged at the Putnam County Jail since his arrest on Dec. 5. Judge Matthew Headley set his bond at $50,000 cash only.

Baker was charged after a joint investigation by the Putnam County Department of Child Services and the Putnam County Sheriff's Department was conducted. It was alleged that Baker had sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old child.

The victim said she had been molested twice by Baker.

Baker initially denied the allegations, but eventually admitted to police officers that they were true. Baker told officers "he had, on several occasions, committed sexual acts of a criminal nature (against the victim)," court records said.

Baker told police he had a problem, that he had been dealing with it for several years and that he needed help, court documents said.

Bookwalter's concern, however, is for the victim.

"It's my hope that the victim, who is now 14, with the help of a loving family and counseling, can grow up and have a normal life in spite of these unspeakable acts that Mr. Baker repeatedly committed on her," he said.

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  • why do we have to look at his ugly mug

    -- Posted by senior'08 on Tue, May 12, 2009, at 10:51 AM
  • NOW THAT IS JUSTICE AT ITS BEST.......

    LET'S MAKE SURE HE GETS 50 YRS. AT LEAST......

    GOD BLESS THIS YOUNG LADY AND LETS PRAY SHE

    CAN NOW MOVE ON WITH HER LIFE.....

    AND KNOW THAT THERE IS JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD....

    ONE LESS CREEP ON THE STREETS....HAVE FUN IN PRISON, I HEAR THE INMATES LOVE PEOPLE LIKE YOU DUDE.............

    -- Posted by takeastand on Tue, May 12, 2009, at 11:16 AM
  • Here we go again, another convicted CHILD MOLESTER off the streets of our county. No plea bargain, no nothing, but good ol' justice at its finest. Hopefully he will get the entire 50 years with no GOOD TIME credit. Too bad they didn't give Terrell Britton the same sentence. Perverts like them, or the family members that protect them, should have taken care of the "PROBLEM" years ago. They are not fit to be in our society.

    -- Posted by NotSoInnocent on Tue, May 12, 2009, at 12:01 PM
  • Thank goodness another Putnam Co Pervert is off the streets!

    -- Posted by clgruener on Tue, May 12, 2009, at 12:09 PM
  • I only hope his cellmate is BUBBA.

    -- Posted by Sand mann on Tue, May 12, 2009, at 1:05 PM
  • My heart goes out to the victim, I can't even imagine all she has gone through and will continue to go through. In response to NotSoInnocent....the family didn't commit this offense. It is possible to have a family member commit this act and the family be totally unaware of the problem until the individual is caught. I know because this happened to our family. We are a tight knit, Christian, law abiding family and it happened to us. My brother was molested when he was 12 and we didn't even know that. Like a vicious cycle he struggled with this disease as an adult-all unawares to us. When he was caught it was a total shock to all of us. He got 32 years and has been locked up for 7 years so far. He is classified as a pedophile. Yes, we still visit him every month and love him very much but we have also done a lot of research on this problem and it is a disease. It is a cycle that we, as a family, wish we would have been able to stop, but not knowing about the molestation on him as a young child, the length to prosecute had long run out just like our chances of getting him immediate help. My mom blames herself everyday for not being able to pick up on this as we could have gotten him help at the time and maybe he wouldn't be having the problem now. It is sad and a no win situation for everyone, but please don't blame the family for the action(s) of one individual. We are supportive of my brother, but not his actions. I intend to keep this victim in my prayers and hope she is able to recieve the help she needs to get through this. God Bless her and I apologize for being so lengthy.

    -- Posted by prayer2go on Tue, May 12, 2009, at 1:49 PM
  • I prayed this day would come for the young lady and all involved in this case. Now my prayers will be that his man never sees the outside world again, he deserves to spend all 18,250 days of a 50 year sentence behind bars.

    This young lady is on the road to healing horrific wounds. She was brave enough to show this beast he would not have control over her in the end and would have taken the stand if there would of been a trial. She is brave and strong thanks to a loving family,and a good therapist.

    Hats off to Mr. Bookwalter and Mr. Long for getting us to this point...GREAT JOB!!!

    -- Posted by clovermom on Tue, May 12, 2009, at 2:03 PM
  • prayer2go - if you would have read my comment, it says to the family members that PROTECT these child molesters, refering to the ones that either DO know and want to protect them or are in complete denial about the whole situation (NOT my ________, insert relationship of family member). You may call it a disease, but really isn't everything now a days. People know right from wrong period, EVERYONE knows you DO NOT have sex or sexual contact with a minor. The CHILD MOLESTERS know that it is wrong so why don't they seek out help on their own? Because people that are attracted to children will ALWAYS be attracted to children, period. There is no rehabilitation for them. In my opinion, they all should either die (why they don't kill themselves is beyond me) or be put away FOREVER. No parole, no nothing, in jail, behind bars until they die. It is not worth the risk to any child to have any of them in our society.

    -- Posted by NotSoInnocent on Tue, May 12, 2009, at 2:31 PM
  • I totally agree with NotSoInnocent. They should just kill themselves and save the tax payers the money it will cost to feed and house these animals for the next 20-50 years.

    -- Posted by magster4u on Tue, May 12, 2009, at 3:09 PM
  • This and many other social problems are not a disease. They're addictions.

    -- Posted by Nick | Nack on Tue, May 12, 2009, at 4:24 PM
  • I'm glad this guy is behind bars, but people! Please don't think he will be there for 50 years. I can relate to prayer2go in that a family member of mine (by marriage) was convicted of child molesting in Putnam County in 2001, given 8 measly years and released four years later. However, he violated parole by not reporting his address to the sex offender registry, was sent back to prison, and was released just last week. So PLEASE keep a close on eye your children. Just because these perverts are required to let the law know where they are, doesn't mean they are going to do so!

    -- Posted by '74tiger on Tue, May 12, 2009, at 8:04 PM
  • My daughter is a victim. She has gone through counseling, but she still has many problems now as an adult. Laura Bobbitt had a great solution!

    -- Posted by Taxpayer5253 on Wed, May 13, 2009, at 7:04 AM
  • Its a good thing he plead guilty, otherwise, Putnam County would have dropped the charges and let him go!!!

    -- Posted by candlecrazy94 on Wed, May 13, 2009, at 7:25 AM
  • notsoinnocent-God Bless You!!!!!

    -- Posted by prayer2go on Thu, May 14, 2009, at 8:18 AM
  • There is a great website www.familywatchdog.us and you can search by your address to see who might be living around you. Also you can setup alerts in case someone moves into your area.

    -- Posted by clovermom on Sun, May 17, 2009, at 10:32 PM
  • THAT IS A GREAT EXAMPLE...

    EVERYONE TAKE A LOOK AT THE LIST WHO LIVES NEAR YOUR HOME....

    THE PERFECT REASON TO LOCK THEM UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY....

    THE CREEPS ARE EVERYWHERE.....

    THERE ARE WAY TO MANY OUT HERE TO HARM OUR CHILDREN...

    THEY WILL NEVER CHANGE....

    WE MUST GET THE LAWS CHANGED..

    ITS OUR DUTY AS PARENTS TO PROTECT ALL OUR CHILDREN FROM THESE CREEPS.....

    -- Posted by takeastand on Tue, May 19, 2009, at 8:15 AM
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