‘Sucker punch’ defendant back in trouble
WEST CHESTER » There was a familiar face among the police booking photos for nine people charged recently by the Chester County District Attorney’s Office in connection with an operation trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine, heroin, and other drugs that were bought in Philadelphia and sold in Chester County.
Barry Robert Baker Jr., it seems, is back.
In a six-month span from spring to fall in 2017, there was perhaps no county criminal more infamous than Baker. News about him circulated as far away as Great Britain, and his name appeared in American publications from the Denver Post to the Washington Post. His mugshot appeared countless times on the pages of the West Chester Daily Local News.
His face and name were seen on billboards up and down the Pennsylvania Turnpike as police across three states conducted what the then-District Attorney called “a relentless manhunt” for him for more than two weeks. Eventually captured in an early morning hotel-raid by members of the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force and the county Sheriff’s Office, he was vilified across the internet, hated on social media, and eventually became the impetus for anti-bullying legislation in the state General Assembly.
All because of one punch. Around 2:30 a.m. on May 10, 2017, Baker — an East Fallowfield landscaper with a minor criminal record — walked out of the 7-Eleven convenience store on South High Street in West Chester with a pack of cigarettes after a night of drinking with friends. As he left the store, he passed a man he did not know who had just pulled
up in a white Jeep SUV.
For whatever reason, Baker decided to pantomime the way the man walked for the amusement of a friend, awkwardly moving in a stork-like fashion on the sidewalk in front of the store. When the man returned a few moments later, Baker, wearing a tell-tale yellow hoodie and still on the sidewalk, again mocked the man’s gait, made noticeable because of his cerebral palsy, a condition that affects a person’s motor functions, though not their mental capacity. Baker exaggerated the movements, causing the man to turn and look at the stranger who was making fun of him.
Baker then switched the pack of cigarettes from his right had to his left, took a boxer’s stance, and threw a roundhouse punch at the man’s face, hitting him without warning or provocation. He calmly strode from the scene, walking away from the “sucker punch” … “as if it was the most normal thing in his life,” as the prosecutor in his case described it when he was eventually sentenced.
Baker was ordered sent to state prison for three-tosix years by Judge William P. Mahon in November 2017. Because he had been held in Chester County Prison since his arrest at a Clarion Hotel in Uwchlan in June of that year, he became eligible for parole in June of this year.
It was unclear on what date Baker was released, but it appears that he chose not to keep to the straight and narrow and fly under the radar. He was ticketed for speeding in West Brandywine on July 6, and was cited for six other minor traffic violations between then and November, according to court records.
Then, in early December, he became entangled with a group of people authorities contend ran a large meth and heroin operation. He was arrested by Chester County Detectives and charged, along with a girlfriend, Keri Slaymaker, with whom he was living, with firearms offenses and criminal use of a communications facility.
In a complaint, Detective Oscar Rosado alleged that on Dec. 4, Baker used a cellphone to call an unidentified person and arrange the sale of three 12-gauge shotguns for cash. As a convicted criminal, Baker is prohibited from owning or possessing firearms.
At some point on that date, Baker and Slaymaker went to a home on Parkesburg Road in West Caln with the shotguns and were taken into custody. He is now in Chester County Prison in lieu of $20,000 bail, as well as parole violation detainers.
It was unclear exactly what the specific connection to the drug ring is. Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan declined to comment on Baker’s case or his past history in the county.
When videotape of the 2017 7-Eleven incident taken from the store’s surveillance camera was released to the public two weeks after his arrest for the assault, Baker’s life began to spin out of control. He had already been released on bail for the assault, but as the video took on a life of its own on the internet and turned Baker’s booking photo into one of the more widely shared images across the country, and one of the most reviled on social media, things got worse.
His phone rang off the hook with angry callers threatening harm. His home was targeted, and he had to move. New warrants were issued for his arrest, and his face began appearing on electronic billboards across the region as a “most wanted” man. He went into hiding and ran from the authorities seeking him across three states.
Five months later — after legal fits and starts over the charges of assault and flight against him — Baker found himself in a county Common Pleas courtroom in tears, finally confronting the enormity of what had happened to him because of his dismal behavior towards a “helpless and harmless victim.”
Handing down his sentence and sending baker to state prison, Mahon said he had never encountered, “evidence of someone’s moral compass being so askew.” Baker had repeatedly tried to convince the judge and others that the man he punched had initiated the confrontation and picked a fight.
In a dialogue with Baker during the proceeding Mahon said while Baker had accepted responsibility for the assault by pleading guilty, Baker’s attitude of “blaming everyone but yourself” had dug a hole so much deeper for himself than it could have been if he had simply acknowledged the wrong he had done and asked for forgiveness.
“You just can’t seem to help yourself,” the judge said.
Baker is now scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 31.