Rev. Joseph (Jack) Baker
Photo courtesy of Archdiocese of Detroit
$500K bond for Oakland County priest charged with sexually abusing child
$500K personal bond for Waterford priest charged with sexually abusing child
By Aileen Wingblad awingblad@medianewsgroup.com; @awingblad on Twitter
Aileen Wingblad
@awingblad on Twitter
The pastor of an Oakland County Catholic church charged with sexually assaulting a child is scheduled to return to court next week for a probable cause conference.
Father Joseph "Jack" Baker, 57, is on an electronic tether following his arraignment July 8 in 29th District Court, according to the Wayne County Jail website. Judge Laura Redmond Mack assigned a $500,000 personal bond at arraignment, which doesn't require bail to be posted.
Baker, pastor of St. Perpetua Parish in Waterford since 2008, is one of six metro Detroit priests facing sexual abuse charges as part of an ongoing investigation by the state's attorney general's office. He was arrested July 8 in Wayne County and is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct - sexual penetration with a person under 13 years old, multiple variables. Court records list the offense date as Feb. 1, 2004.
Baker is also a former associate pastor at St. Hugo of the Hills Parish in Bloomfield Hills and Sacred Heart Parish in Dearborn, and former pastor at St. Mary Parish in Wayne. He also was administrator at St. Benedict in Waterford in 2011, campus minister at Wayne State Medical School Campus Ministry and administrator at three churches in Inkster. He was ordained in 1993.
Former Sacred Heart priest accused of sexually abusing a minor
Attorney General Dana Nessel is calling the case "just the tip of the iceberg," and said her office is reviewing "hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and files" seized last fall from Michigan's seven diocese.
The investigation so far has also resulted in criminal sexual conduct charges for five former priests: Timothy Michael Crowley, Neil Kalina, Vincent DeLorenzo, Patrick Casey and Jacob Vellian.
Baker's attorney, Patrick Bagley, didn't return a call from The Oakland Press seeking comment.
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The Oakland Press week in review, July 7-13
Criminal Sexual Conduct
Father Joseph "jack" Baker
Father Baker
St. Perpetua Parish
St. Hugo Of The Hills
Clergy Sex Abuse
Aileen Wingblad is a multimedia journalist for The Oakland Press.