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DUCHESNE — Authorities have released the name of a Duchesne County Jail inmate who apparently died by suicide Tuesday.
Michael Alan Baker, 60, of Duchesne, was unresponsive when he was found alone about 9:40 a.m. in the shower area of a general population housing unit, Duchesne County Sheriff's Lt. Jeremy Curry said.
Jail staff began CPR and immediately called for an ambulance, Curry said. Baker was taken to Uintah Basin Medical Center in Roosevelt, where doctors pronounced him dead.
Curry declined to say what may have caused Baker's death, but noted that the man's death appears to be a suicide.
Last week on Sept. 16, a jury found Baker guilty of forcible sodomy, a second-degree felony; lewdness by a sex offender, a third-degree felony; and lewdness involving a child by a sex offender, a third-degree felony, according to court records.
The charges stemmed from a May incident where Baker allegedly pinned a woman up against a wall in his trailer when she tried to leave. He was naked at the time and forced her to touch him, according to court records. Baker was also accused of exposing himself to the woman and to a 3-year-old girl.
At the time of the incident, Baker was on probation for his guilty pleas in April 2011 to 12 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
Baker was initially charged in January 2011 with 40 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor after investigators with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force said they found 278 images of child pornography on his computer.
A subsequent forensic exam of the computer turned up nearly 1,000 images depicting child sex abuse and four voyeurism-style videos Baker made of child relatives, Duchesne County Attorney Steven Foote said at Baker's sentencing hearing.
(Prison) is the measure we need to take to make sure he doesn't have future victims.
–Duchesne County Attorney Steven Foote
Foote argued during the hearing that the only way Baker could get the counseling he needed was to send him to prison. The Duchesne County Jail does not offer a sex offender treatment program.
"(Prison) is the measure we need to take to make sure he doesn't have future victims," Foote told the judge, adding that Baker's stated desire not to re-offend wasn't enough.
"That's like telling an addict they can quit drugs if they put their mind to it," the prosecutor said. "Without the tools (taught in treatment), I'm afraid someone else will get hurt."
Judge Douglas Thomas, however, noted that Baker had cooperated with investigators and his criminal history was almost non-existent. Thomas suspended Baker's prison sentences and ordered him to serve one year in jail and spend four years on probation. He also barred Baker from using any device with Internet access and required him to pay a $12,000 fine.
The judge told Baker he would receive credit against the fine for money spent on counseling. "The court's primary concern is that he gets that treatment," Thomas said.
Baker, who was scheduled to be sentenced for his most recent convictions in October, faced up to 15 years in prison for the forcible sex abuse charge and up to five years in prison on each of the lewdness charges. He also faced up to 15 years in prison for each of the sexual exploitation charges he pleaded guilty to in 2011.
