GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Apr. 10, 2024) – A 42-year-old Wyoming man is facing the next five decades in a federal prison, thanks in part to the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department.
On Tuesday, the office of the US Attorney for the Western District of Michigan announced that Timothy Lee Baker was sentenced to 50 years for conspiracy to sexually exploit a child, coercion and enticement of a child, and committing those offenses while being a registered sex offender. A jury handed down guilty verdicts for all three felony counts after a trial at US District Court in Grand Rapids this past December.
Last July, Ottawa County Sheriff’s detectives were investigating an alleged sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl when they executed a search warrant on Baker’s cell phone. They found a photo of a shirtless young girl who apparently wasn’t aware that she was being photographed, and the detectives traced that image to a woman in Norton Shores who admitted sending as many as 15 nude or partially nude images of her daughter to Baker.
According to court documents, the woman and Baker also purportedly discussed giving the victim some sort of substances that would knock her out and make her unable to resist an assault. Once the FBI entered the investigation, it was learned that two other victims were also apparently involved.
There has been no word as to what charges if any were filed against the Norton Shores woman for her part in the incident. Baker was investigated and prosecuted as a part of Project Safe Child, the US Department of Justice’s program aimed at combating child exploitation.
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