Federal Trial Set In Child Porn Case
Date: December 09, 2004Source: The Winchester Star
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A Gore man accused of creating an Internet child pornography group and distributing sexual images of three children now has a federal trial date.
Samuel Lewis Baker Jr., 28, of 275 Fletcher Road, will stand trial for the alleged crimes on Jan. 24 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg.
In all, Baker is facing 12 federal charges, including producing and distributing child pornography and allowing a child in his custody to be photographed during sexual acts.
Joe Mott, who is prosecuting the case for the government, could not talk specifically about the charges, but did confirm the setting of the trial date.
He added that no pretrial motions have been filed.
According to court records, Richard G. Morgan Jr. of Harrisonburg will represent Baker. Attempts to contact Morgan at his office Wednesday were unsuccessful.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations began monitoring Baker two years ago in Denmark, which led to an investigation of child pornography users in the United States, court records state.
Investigators claim Baker created a Yahoo chat group, titled “DaddiesLilGirls,” to link buyers and sellers of child pornography.
Baker’s indictment on Aug. 25 was part of a larger federal operation to crack down on child pornography, authorities said.
The “Innocent Images” initiative, started in 1995, is based in Baltimore and targets suspected pedophiles and dealers of child pornography.
The FBI said Baker has allegedly kept or shared more than 600 sexual images of children. Agents with the FBI, as well as the Virginia State Police and the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office, turned up the pictures after being allowed to search his home in October 2003. They confiscated two computers and three digital cameras, court records state.
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