Man Convicted of Attempting to Send Obscene Images to Minor Sentenced to Eight Years in Federal Prison

PHOENIX—On January 23, 2012, Barry Baker, 61, of Glendale, Arizona, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt to eight years in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Baker pleaded guilty to attempted distribution of obscene material to a minor on January 10, 2012.

According to the plea agreement, in 2009, the father of a 15-year-old girl reported to the Kansas City Police Department that an adult male in Phoenix had been communicating with his daughter online. An undercover detective made contact with Baker online and posed as an underage friend of the minor. Baker had multiple online conversations with the detective through e-mail and online chat sessions. Baker admitted at his change of plea hearing that he sent obscene images of himself masturbating to the detective, a person he believed was an underage female.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department; the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory; and the FBI. The prosecution is being handled by Melissa Karlen, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix; and Kathy Fincham, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Western District of Missouri.