Wichita man forced vodka, ‘white weed’ on runaways before sexually assaulting them

A 57-year-old Wichita man has been ordered to serve 22 years, 10 months in prison for sexually assaulting two runaway girls in 2020, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.

Court records say Donald L. Baker knew the girls were underage but forced them to use vodka, marijuana and cocaine anyway and gave them money after the attack.

The girls, who were 14 years old at the time, had run away from a state placement in a temporary group home in north Wichita when Baker picked them up in a yellow box truck on May 22, 2020. They were walking in the area of 10th and Indiana, near Washington, when Baker found them, court records say.

“Baker told the girls he would take care of them,” a news release from the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office says.

Instead, he bought drugs, alcohol and cigarettes then took them back to his home, where the sexual assaults took place, the news release says.

According to court records that summarize testimony detailing the assaults, the girls didn’t know Baker when he stopped and asked if they needed a place to stay.

According to the testimony, after Baker picked up the girls he forced them to drink vodka. He also gave one girl a pipe and cocaine, which he called “white weed,” and told her to smoke it.

After giving the girl drugs, he repeatedly sexually assaulted 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.

When authorities interviewed Baker after the attack, he said he had been drunk, claimed other people had had sex in his home and insisted he was being set up by family who “want my house.” He later admitted to picking up the girls but denied sexually assaulting them or forcing them to use drugs, court records say.

Law enforcement found marijuana, cocaine and several vodka bottles when they searched Baker’s home.

Sedgwick County District Judge David Dahl found Baker guilty of several crimes at a bench trial last year. Baker was convicted of two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, criminal sodomy and providing alcohol to a minor, according to the DA’s news release.

Dahl imposed the 274-month prison sentence on Friday. In doing so, he denied a request from Baker’s lawyer to sentence him to probation, or alternatively no more than 136 months in prison, because he had no other convictions for sex offenses and had maintained his innocence throughout the case.

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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