As a prosecutor, current Florida governor Ron DeSantis repeatedly cut plea deals to give lenient sentences to defendants convicted of child pornography crimes, according to records obtained by NATIONAL FILE.
- In one case, the deal DeSantis cut with the child porn aficionado cut the perpetrator’s sentence from thirty years down to six year.
- In another plea deal DeSantis cut with a sailor facing a child pornography charge, the service member ultimately only received a 6-month prison sentence rather than a maximum 10-year sentence.
- At least two of the child porn consumers DeSantis cut deals with were members of the U.S. Navy.
In 2007, Gregory Baker was charged for allegedly possessing a thumb drive with child porn on it.
According to a court document: “visual depictions involved the use of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct and which visual depictions were of such conduct.” In June 2008, DeSantis became the assistant U.S. attorney on the Baker case.
DeSantis did not oppose Baker’s attempt to modify the conditions of his release pertaining to curfew and travel. In October 2008, DeSantis submitted a “downward departure” motion that created a “one level reduction in the Defendant’s total offense level,” and Baker ended up getting sentenced to only one year and one day in prison.
DeSantis signed the motion, which stated: “The defendant’s guilty plea permitted the government to avoid preparing for trial and permitted the government and the Court to allocate resources efficiently.”
Hellbound and Down 