By Ruby Gonzales
Whittier Daily News
September 25, 2011
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/crime/ci_18974537
 |
| Michael Stephen Baker, right, a former Catholic priest accused of molesting a number of boys over the past 20 years pleads guilty to sexually abusing two boys listens to his victim's testimony Monday, Dec. 3, 2007, after been sentenced to 10 years in prison during a court appearance at Los Angeles Superior Court. At left, is his attorney, Leonard Levine. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) |
Ex-priest Michael Stephen Baker could have been a free man this summer after serving one-third of a 10-year, 4-month sentence for child molestation.
Baker was supposed to be paroled Aug. 23, but the 63-year-old Long Beach man is headed back to court again this fall. A court must decides if he poses a danger to the public and should be placed in a state hospital instead.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office filed a request on Aug. 26 to put Baker in a sex offender program at the state hospital in Coalinga, according to DA spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons.
It's called a civil commitment.
"We don't do it for all sex offenders," Gibbons said.
She said one of the criteria before the DA's Office asks for a civil commitment is there are at least two psychological reports showing the person will likely commit the crime again.
She said she doesn't know what the reports on Baker said, and pointed out they aren't public record.
"We are going through the process established under a law. This is all part of the process. I cannot be more specific because it involves matters that have to be litigated," Gibbons said.
Donald Steier, one of Baker's two lawyers, is fighting for Baker's freedom.
"Mr. Baker believes he is eligible and should be on parole. (And) that he served his time. There's no question he served his time," Steier said.
Baker will return to a Los Angeles court Oct. 7 for a hearing on a media request. He also has an arraignment and motions on Nov. 9.
Virginia Zamora of La Mirada makes a point to show up in court whenever Baker appears. Her son, Dominic, was allegedly molested by Baker while he served as an altar boy at St. Paul of the Cross in La Mirada.
She said she doesn't hate Baker but wants to see him committed to the state hospital.
"I don't want him walking the streets. I don't want him out. Period. He's not going to change because he's a periodic pedophile," Virginia Zamora said.
She found out last month about the civil commitment from members of the group Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
Dominic Zamora was among the plaintiffs the Los Angeles Archdiocese reached settlements with. Virginia Zamora said her now 36-year-old son just got out of rehab and has been sober for a year.
She said he doesn't want to attend Baker's court hearings.
"It brings back bad memories. I'm doing this because we don't want (Baker) walking the street. I'm doing it for all the mothers," she said.
"He ruined our lives and my son's future. He took his innocence away, he took his childhood away. You can't get that back."
Priest pleaded guilty
The case that sent Baker to prison involved two other boys he molested between 1994 and 1997 when the victims were between 14 and 18.
He met one of the boys when he was a priest at St. Hilary in Pico Rivera and the second boy at St. Columbkille in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Archdiocese and Baker settled with the boy he met in Pico Rivera and the boy's brother for $1.25 million in 2000.
Seven years later, Baker pleaded guilty to 12 felony counts of oral copulation on a person under 18. He was sentenced to 10 years and four months in prison.
Former Archbishop Roger Mahony drew criticism for the way he handled Baker.
According to the archdiocese, the priest admitted to Mahony in 1986 that he had a relationship with two boys for seven years. He was sent for treatment in New Mexico in 1987.
A year later, Baker was assigned to work with restrictions at other parishes, according to a report by the archdiocese. But he molested again.
"Mahony knew Baker had a problem and he shuffled him around," Virginia Zamora said.
On Friday, the archdiocese issued the following statement:
"As Michael Baker's future is again the focus of court proceedings, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles recalls the terrible harm he inflicted upon his many victims. Mr. Baker repeatedly lied to his superiors, therapists and friends, and manipulated treatment protocols in order to continue to prey upon young people."
Baker had 23 accusers
Father Mike, as Baker was then called, has been accused of molesting children as far back as the 1970s.
A report by the archdiocese showed he had 23 accusers from incidents starting in 1974 and ending in 1999.
In 2003, prosecutors charged Baker with molesting Matthew Severson at St. Hilary, St. Paul of the Cross in La Mirada and at a condominium in Palm Desert about 30 years ago.
Severson alleged the abuse started when he was 8 in 1975 and ended when he was 19 in 1986.
But the Supreme Court ruled that the state cannot retroactively erase statutes of limitations so the criminal case, along with others against other priests, was dismissed.
Prosecutors then filed charges against Baker in 2006 for molesting the boy he met at St. Hilary and the boy from the L.A. church.
Baker served his sentence at the California Correctional Institute in Tehachapi.
He wasn't released on Aug. 23 but ended up getting transferred to a Los Angeles County jail, according to Luis Patino, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
So why didn't Baker serve his entire sentence?
At his 2007 sentencing, Baker received credit for 1,075 days, which covers the time he was in county jail and for good time work credit.
Patino said Baker received credit while in state prison.
"For every day he served he got credit for two days. This is by law passed by the legislators," Patino said.
Patino said Baker also wasn't convicted of an offense that would have required him to serve 85 percent of his sentence.
The defrocked clergyman remains at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles without bail.
Contact: ruby.gonzales@sgvn.com
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.