A 57-year-old man from Wichita has been sentenced to 22 years, 10 months in prison for sexual assault of two underage girls who had run away in 2020, as reported by the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
The court records detail that despite knowing the girls’ minor status, Donald L. Baker allegedly forced them to consume vodka, smoke marijuana and use cocaine. The man also provided them with money subsequent to the assault.
In May 2020, the two girls, both 14 years old then, had escaped from a temporary group home placement in northern Wichita. The records indicate that Baker approached them in a yellow box truck while they were on foot around 10th and Indiana, close to Washington.
A press release from the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office stated “Baker told the girls he would take care of them”.
He utilized his resources to procure substances such as narcotics, alcohol, and cigarettes, which were subsequently transported to his residence. It was in this setting that the sexual offenses occurred, as stated in the press release.
As indicated in the legal documents, which provide a summary of the testimonies depicting the attacks, the juveniles were unacquainted with Baker at the time of their encounter, during which he offered them a place to stay.
The testimony further explains that subsequent to Baker convincing the juveniles to accompany him, he coerced them into consuming vodka. In addition, he provided one of the juveniles with a pipe and a substance known as cocaine, albeit he referred to it as “white weed,” and instructed her to smoke it.
Post supplying the juvenile with the aforementioned substances, he commenced his series of sexual accosts upon her.
The girl testified that she bit Baker to halt the attack.
When Baker took the other girl into a bedroom at his house to assault her, too, she smashed a glass to try to stop him, court records say.
The next morning, Baker gave the girls two $20 bills and dropped them off in the same location where he found them.
At least one of the girls needed medical care after the ordeal to treat injuries and gonorrhea, which she contracted from Baker, the records summarizing the testimony say.
During the authorities’ interview with Baker post-assault, he claimed to be inebriated, shared about other people having intimate relations in his house, and expressed belief that he was being framed, especially by covetous family members. Nonetheless, he subsequently conceded picking up the girls; however, he refuted allegations of sexual assault or drug force-feeding, as court records depict.
In the course of inspecting Baker’s premises, law enforcement officers recovered marijuana, cocaine and various vodka bottles.
David Dahl, a District Judge of Sedgwick County, found Baker guilty of multiple crimes during a bench trial the previous year. The District Attorney’s press release informs that Baker was convicted on two aggravated indecent liberties with a child counts, criminal sodomy and supplying a minor with alcohol.
Judge Dahl declared the 274-month prison sentencing on Friday. In the process, he rejected a petition from Baker’s defense seeking probation, or at most, an imprisonment term not exceeding 136 months on grounds that it was Baker’s debut sex offense conviction and he had contested his guilt throughout the proceedings.
Baker will be subject to post-release supervision and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life once he is released from prison, the DA’s news release says.
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