L.A. County prosecutors are seeking justice on behalf of two children that were molested by one of the Archdiocese’s most prolific sexual offenders. At a Friday arraignment, prosecutors will motion to have a convicted child molester committed to a state hospital correction facility indefinitely upon finishing his prison sentence.
In 1986, Michael Stephen Baker confessed that he had a problem to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony after he had allegedly molested over 20 children in his 26 years as a priest. Neglecting to tell the proper authorities, Mahony sent Baker to a series of other parishes, including New Mexico, where he allegedly victimized numerous children.
Baker, a former Roman Catholic priest, has already served five years of a 10-year prison sentence after being convicted of molesting two young children. The ex-priest, turned pedophile, was scheduled to be released on August 18, 2011. However, prosecutors filed a petition with the L.A. County Mental Health Court in an attempt to commit Baker to a state hospital and reduce the risk of recidivism. The filed petition has allowed authorities to detain Baker past his release date while a judge reviews the potential case.
The motion for a petition, filed by the prosecutors, is backed by a law that mandates strict evaluations for sex offenders to determine whether their current conditions warrant hospitalization after serving their criminal sentence. If the petition is passed, Baker will have to face a jury who will then determine if he requires additional treatment at a state hospital.
In a move to have the petition dismissed and parole granted, Baker’s lawyers filed a counter motion.
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