‘Father Jack’, former priest convicted of child rape, gets new sentencing date
Sentencing for a former Catholic priest convicted recently of a 2004 child rape has been rescheduled.
Joseph “Father Jack” Baker had been scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 2 by 3rd Judicial Circuit Judge Bridget Hathaway, but the sentencing hearing is now set to happen Dec. 14. The postponement came at the request of the defense, according to the court.
At the conclusion of a jury trial last month, Baker, 60, was found guilty of first-degree criminal conduct — sexual penetration with a person less than 13 years old. The assault happened while Baker was pastor of St. Mary Catholic School in Wayne. His victim was a secondgrade student there who came forward a few years ago, saying Baker raped him in the church sacristy.
Baker was pastor of St. Mary in Wayne from 1997 to 2008, and from there was assigned as pastor of St. Perpetua Catholic Church in Waterford Township. Following his arrest in 2019, he was suspended, and then in June was informed that his assignment at St. Perpetua had ended. Baker was charged following an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office, launched after the victim’s father reported his son’s allegation to the Archdiocese of Detroit in 2019.
The victim, now in his mid-20s, was among those to testify at the trial. Baker is held in the Wayne County Jail.