Bloomington Man Sentenced To 6 ½ Years In Prison For Failure To Register As Sex Offender

Defendant Repeatedly Failed to Register Despite Prior Convictions for Four Brutal Rapes

Peoria, Ill. – A Bloomington, Ill., man, convicted of four rapes in Cook County, Ill., who failed to register as a sex offender in Illinois, was sentenced this week to a sentence above the guideline range. Senior U.S. District Judge Michael M. Mihm sentenced Roy Anthony Baker, 51, on Monday, Mar. 18, 2013, to a term of 77 months (six years, five months) in federal prison for violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA.) Baker was also ordered to remain on federal supervised release for the remainder of his life following completion of his prison sentence.

Baker pled guilty to the offense on May 31, 2012. While on bond in McLean County, Ill., from November 2011 to Feb. 13, 2012, Baker traveled from Illinois to Michigan to live with a single mother he met on the Internet. At the time, Baker was on bond pending sentencing for his second violation in McLean County for violation of the Sex Offender Registration requirement.

According to court documents, Baker was released from the Illinois Department of Corrections in November 2000, after serving two concurrent sentences of 28 years in prison for rapes committed in January and February 1987, less than three months after his release from prison for two rape convictions in 1983.

The government, represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk D. Schoenbein, sought and was granted a sentence greater than the guideline range of 33-41 months as determined by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, for the offense. Assistant U.S. Attorney Schoenbein argued that the sentencing guidelines used to determine Baker’s case criminal history calculation under-represented the seriousness of his criminal history and the likelihood of his continued criminal conduct.

The charge against Baker was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service in the Central District of Illinois and the Bloomington Police Department.

The cases were 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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.