Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Baker’s fiancée faces charges
Police: Denise Ranae Schmidt arrested for actions she took on behalf of man accused of throwing a sucker punch at a disabled man
UWCHLAN » The fiancée of the man accused of throwing a sucker punch at a disabled man in West Chester was arrested Tuesday and charged with helping him avoid capture during a two-week run from law enforcement authorities.
Chester County Detectives charged Denise Ranae Schmidt with hindering apprehension or prosecution, a second-degree misdemeanor, for actions she took on behalf of her fiancé, Barry Robert Baker Jr. while he was wanted in Chester County on two bench warrants.
According to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday with Magisterial District Judge Lori Donatelli of Lionville, Detective Keith Cowdright stated that
in addition to keeping his whereabouts a secret from police, Schmidt helped arrange and pay for the hotel room where Baker was hiding when he was ultimately taken into custody June 5.
If convicted, Schmidt
— a 48-year-old mother of three who lived with Baker in Georgetown, Delaware — faces a possible sentence of up to two years in state prison. She has no serious prior criminal record, however, and would likely be sentenced to something less.
Schmidt walked to and from Donatelli’s court in Uwchlan Tuesday with her
mother and another unidentified woman, voluntarily turning herself in to authorities. Although she answered Donatelli’s questions during her preliminary arraignment without pause, she did not stop to speak with a reporter covering the proceeding, and shielded her face from a photographer.
Donatelli set bail at $25,000 unsecured. Her preliminary hearing was set for July 11. She is being represented by defense attorney Thomas H. Ramsay of West Chester, who did not accompany her to the proceeding.
The events that brought Schmidt to court began May 10 outside a 7-Eleven in West Chester, where Baker, a 29-year-old landscaper with a record of petty thefts and other crimes, was standing with friends. A man drove up to the front, got out and walked into the store. As he did, Baker mimicked the way the man, who has cerebral palsy, walked.
When the man came out of the store, Baker again made fun of his walk. The man turned to speak to Baker, and when he did, Baker threw a punch at him, striking him in the face. Baker then walked away. Police were later able to identify him, and he was subsequently charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct.
The encounter, however, had been recorded by the 7-Eleven’s surveillance camera. West Chester police and the District Attorney’s Office released the tape to the public, and it gained almost instant notoriety on the internet. Baker, who had been processed and released on bail pending a preliminary hearing, became a pariah. Warrants for violation of his probation on theft charges and failure to pay child support were issued.
According to Cowdright’s complaint, between May 22 and June 5, members of the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force were in contact with several members of Baker’s family and other associates, including Schmidt, attempting to locate Baker. His attorney at the time, Francis Miller of West Chester, was also in contact with him about the bench warrants, advising Baker to turn himself in.
Schmidt, the detective said, knew of the warrants and spoke with multiple police officers from several agencies about them. She was also intimately aware of the media coverage that Baker’s case was getting and the reward that had been issued for his capture. He came to the house they shared in Georgetown, Delaware, the week before his capture, but she failed to alert police to his whereabouts.
In Cowdright’s complaint, he said that Schmidt
— who was in near constant contact with Baker by phone and text message during the time period — and another person, identified as “Witness 1” — rented a room at the Clarion Hotel in Uwchlan June 4, telling Baker about the room by phone after he instructed her to get him a room to stay in.
Schmidt paid for the room with cash and registered under her friend’s name, then left the room key outside the hotel under an ashtray outside the building while she went to get food, cash, and a prepaid cellphone for Baker to use, the affidavit states. When she came back, Baker was in the room. She left the room several times that night to smoke a cigarette, but never alerted police to Baker’s whereabouts.
Units from the Marshal’s Office and the county Sheriff’s Fugitive Task Force, after having been tipped off about Baker’s whereabouts, burst into Room 118 and took Baker into custody. Later, when she was interviewed by police, Schmidt admitted that she had known about the efforts to take Baker into custody and was present when he was told about the warrants.
It was not a good day for anyone associated with Baker. In the morning, District Attorney Thomas Hogan identified his father, Barry Baker Sr., as one of the defendants in a roundup of heroin dealers, dubbed “Operation Wildfire.”
“It’s a heck of a family,” Hogan said.
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.