Jacksonville Sex Offender Sentenced To 10 Years In Federal Prison For Possession Of Child Pornography

Jacksonville, Florida – United States District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan has sentenced William Roland Baker (65, Jacksonville) to 10 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography.  Baker was also sentenced to a term of 10 years of supervised release and ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to two victims of his offenses. A federal jury found Baker guilty in November 2015.  Baker is a registered child sex offender who was previously convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child on November 22, 1995.

According to evidence presented during trial, in early 2013, an agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was able to download several images and a video of child pornography over the Internet from a computer using an Internet Protocol address that was traced back to Baker’s Jacksonville residence.  On May 29, 2013, a federal search warrant was executed at this residence, and law enforcement seized two laptop computers from Baker’s bedroom.  A forensic examiner was able to recover images of child pornography from Baker’s computers, even though Baker had used an eraser program on the evening before the search.  During an interview, Baker claimed that he did not download child pornography.  However, a forensic analysis of his laptop computer showed that he had used particular terms to search for child pornography in a file sharing program. Baker’s computers contained at least 338 images depicting the sexual abuse of young children.       

This case was investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

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