Baughman Sentenced To 60 Years In Federal Prison On Child Porn Charges

Still Faces State Charges On Rape, Sexual Abuse

Glenn Baughman
Glenn Baughman

— A former Gravette volunteer firefighter was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison Wednesday for making videos as he sexually abused a boy and girl aged 7 and 8.

Glenn Baughman, 24, of Decatur pleaded guilty in October to two counts of a five-count indictment charging him with sexually exploiting children to produce visual images. U.S. District Judge Tim Brooks sentenced Baughman to two consecutive 30-year terms to be followed by 25 years of supervised probation upon release. There's no early release in the federal system, meaning Baughman will have to serve the entire sentence.

LEGAL LINGO

Federal Sentencing Guidelines

A uniform set of rules for computing uniform sentencing for individuals and organizations. They also provide classifications of offenses or offenders, scales of severity of crimes, and suggested punishments in the U.S. federal courts system. The guidelines aren’t binding but are generally followed by judges.

Source: uslegal.com

"You're going to be under the watchful eye of legal authorities for the rest of your life," Brooks told Baughman. "I don't know if this isn't the worst of the worst. There's a special place for the grotesqueness of what you were doing."

Brooks also imposed a $25,000 fine that will be taken from any money Baughman might earn with a prison job.

"That'll be another reminder for 60 years of what you've done," Brooks said.

Baughman also is to have no unsupervised contact with minors, no access to the Internet and must enter mental health treatment.

Brooks rejected a defense plea for leniency. Jack Schisler, a federal public defender, argued 15 years was a sufficient sentence and 60 too severe.

Deputy U.S. Attorney Dustin Roberts opposed any downward departure from federal sentencing guidelines.

"This is a 24-year-old man taking advantage of a 7-year-old. He'd wait for the parents to go to sleep and sexually assault these minors," Roberts said. "This is some of the most reprehensible conduct that this court will see."

Roberts said Baughman made 17 videos over more than a year of the two children being molested. Baughman also distributed more than 2,500 images of child pornography involving infants to pre-pubescent children being raped, Roberts said.

A grandmother of one of the children testified at the hearing, saying they no longer trust anyone around the child and they no longer let the child go out and play.

"No child should ever have to go through what these children went through. I never want this to happen to another child," the woman said. "I feel 60 years is sufficient enough."

Baughman still faces state charges of rape and sexual assault in the second degree in Benton County Circuit Court. Baughman is accused of raping a 7-year-old girl and sexually assaulting a 7-year old boy. He faces 10 to 40 years or life on the rape charge.

Baughman was caught after Doug Estes, special agent with the Arkansas State Police, logged on to a peer-to-peer network in February 2013 and he downloaded 2,747 images and video files of child pornography from a computer in Northwest Arkansas, according to court documents. State Police obtained a warrant and learned the computer was at a Decatur address. That information led police to Baughman's home.

Police searched the home June 19 and found a computer. An examination of the computer revealed child pornography images. Police also seized a cellphone from Baughman, according to court documents. The phone contained a 5-minute video of a child being touched by a man as the child slept.

Baughman admitted the phone belonged to him, and he used it to record himself as he touched the girl, according to court documents.

NW News on 03/20/2014

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