‘Depraved’ conduct brings sex offender 50 years in prison
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A convicted sex offender who got a West Michigan woman to send him sexually explicit pictures of a child has been sentenced to 50 years in prison and hit with a $252,000 tab for restitution.
The crimes committed by 42-year-old Timothy Lee Baker of Wyoming were described as “so depraved’’ by a federal prosecutor.
“The crime of sexual exploitation is so depraved in part because its victims are so vulnerable,’’ U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said in a news release.
U.S. District Court Judge Paul Maloney on Tuesday also ordered Baker to pay $252,000 in restitution and serve a decade on supervised release once the prison term ends.
Baker is a registered sex offender; he was convicted in 2000 of having sex with a person under the age of 13.
A jury found Baker guilty of coercion and enticement of a minor; a potential life offense. He was indicted on the charge last summer. The federal jury in December also found him guilty of crimes tied to his status as a registered sex offender.
The coercion/enticement case came to light in December 2022 while Baker was being investigated in Ottawa County for a reported sexual assault of a 16-year-old.
During the investigation, police received information that Baker wanted to have sex with an 11-year-old girl who had connections with a woman Baker was involved with, court records show.
A search of Baker’s Snapchat account turned up a photo of a semi-nude girl. It led investigators to an address in Norton Shores, registered to Shaelyn Fann.
Fann admitted to sending Baker 10-15 nude or semi-nude images of a girl through Snapchat, court records show.
Fann and Baker discussed plans to have the girl ingest substances that would make her unconscious so that Baker could have sex with her, records show.
“I’m trying to ease her into the whole sex thing but she still thinks everything is gross,” Fann wrote in a message to Baker, according to court records.
Fann also discussed buying sex toys for the girl to accustom her to sexual activity, records show.
Fann, 32, pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement of a minor and was sentenced in January to nearly 22 years in prison.
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