HICKORY, NC (WBTV) - In the same week he had hoped to get an answer on having his passport returned so he could fly back to his home country of Australia, the father of 10-year-old Zahra Baker was hit with new felony charges -- and authorities have issued a "detainer" against the man, keeping him in the U.S.
According to the Hickory Police Department, Adam Baker was arrested and charged with one count of identity theft and one count of obtaining property by false pretense on Tuesday afternoon.
Baker appeared in court Wednesday morning for the felony charges and he was given a court-appointed attorney. A probable cause hearing was set for May 4 and Baker was held on a $10,000 bond.
In addition, immigration officials have now issued a detainer against Baker which prohibits him from leaving the country even if he posts bond.
Once all of Baker's legal issues are resolved, he will be deported said an official with the Hickory Police Department.
BULLSHIT!! he needs to be charged with a few things RE: Zahra. like improper disposal of a human body. something! anything! i hope the citizens of Hickory lynch his lying ass.
(04-13-2011, 12:00 PM)Lady Cop Wrote: In the same week he had hoped to get an answer on having his passport returned so he could fly back to his home country of Australia, the father of 10-year-old Zahra Baker was hit with new felony charges -- and authorities have issued a "detainer" against the man, keeping him in the U.S.
So . . . "Father of the Year" fucktard wanted to leave before seeing justice for his daughter?
What a guy!
Someone needs to get clever. How 'bout defining him as a material witness? Or a Human Rights criminal? Get him chasing his tail and defending a barrage of charges!
Is mama still here and paying his deadbeat ass's bills?
Can you hear me . . . in the outback? This bastard deserves the "bone".
Immigration officials have also placed a detainer on Baker, meaning even if he posts the $10,000 bond, he will remain in custody. Baker has been living in the United States illegally, according to Catawba County jail officials.
Adam Baker showed little emotion as he walked into court Wednesday morning.
As Baker walked into the courtroom in lime green scrubs, chains clanking around his ankles and wrists, he surveyed the courtroom and sighed. He sat into the jury box and waited for the judge to call his name on the docket. He did not look at his mother, Karen, who was sitting in the last row of the gallery with a friend.
Mullinax read the two new charges Baker is facing: one count of felony identity theft and one count of felony obtaining property by false pretense.
Police say Baker used James Starbucks' name and Social Security number to get power with Duke Energy. Starbuck married the daughter of Adam's wife, Elisa Baker, who is charged with murder in her stepdaughter's death.
“The maximum possible punishment is 30 months,” District Court Judge Robert Mullinax told Baker.
you know even though he is not charged with involvement. I really really hope he isn't involved. And you know why? because it would be just the most evil disgusting thing in the world.
(04-14-2011, 06:54 PM)aussiefriend Wrote: you know even though he is not charged with involvement. I really really hope he isn't involved. And you know why? because it would be just the most evil disgusting thing in the world.
I understand your position.
I can't get past the "doing nothing" or the "turning a blind eye" when your daughter is vulnerable and needs help.
For that sin ALONE, he should be jailed and castrated.
CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Adam Baker, the father of a slain Hickory girl, has been released from the Catawba County Jail and is now being monitored by federal authorities.
Baker, who was hoping to get his passport back recently, had been held in the county jail from April 13 until this morning, although he posted bond this past weekend.
Baker made bond on Saturday, but there was a "hold" placed on him and he was not released until just before 7:30 am Tuesday when he was handed over to the custody of federal immigration officials.
Adam Baker is now not listed on the jail's website and is shown as an inmate at the La Tuna Federal Correction Facility in Anthony, Texas. However, he is not actually being held in Texas. According to his attorney, Baker is in Caldwell County wearing an ankle bracelet, which is monitored by federal officials.
Killian said felony charges of identity theft and obtaining property by false pretenses, which were filed last week, came as a surprise to Adam I'M SURE THEY DID! he thought he had skated on that. who was hoping to get his passport back and leave the country.
"We were blindsided by the charges," Killian said.
The filing of felony charges led to the involvement of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Baker's immigration papers, according to police, were not properly filed and therefore he is in the United States illegally.
When Baker made his bond on the felony charges Saturday night in Catawba County he was held on a federal detainer until ICE agents picked him up Tuesday morning. He was taken to Charlotte and questioned.
After several hours, agents fitted Baker with an ankle monitoring device and told him he was free to go, as long as he stayed in North Carolina. He has to wear the device and report to federal officials until further notice.
The problem, according to his attorney, is how Baker will support himself.
"With his immigration status, he can't work and his family doesn't have many resources left to support him." Killian added that Baker has to "rely on the charity of others."
Killian said it could be a year of longer before Baker's charges are all resolved and he still has not heard if Baker will be needed in the trial of Elisa Baker.
That case may not get to a courtroom for years, said Killian. The attorney said he will explore all options.
NEWTON, N.C. (AP) -- The father of a North Carolina girl killed last year is no longer facing worthless check charges in Catawba County.
The charges against Adam Baker were dismissed Friday in Superior Court in Newton. Baker's lawyer, Mark Killian, says the Australian native has made restitution in the case.
Baker was accused of writing bad checks for around $240 to local grocery stores.
He still faces other charges, including felony identity theft and obtaining property by false pretense.
Adam Baker needs to be tried for murder along with Eliza. What a worthless human being to be involved with the murder of your own child. No way this guy couldn't have prevented this from happening under his own roof. This case still makes me sick to imagine what happened to that disabled little girl.
No matter what happens to this guy, it won't be bad enough.
Only a small piece of news, taken from the news.com.au website:
Zahra Baker's stepmother Elise Baker put bullet-proof vest for court appearance
ZAHRA Baker's stepmother wore a bulletproof vest and was guarded by police armed with assault rifles as she appeared in a North Carolina court.
Elisa Baker, who is charged with the murder and dismemberment of her 10-year-old Australian stepdaughter, had her arms and legs shackled and was guarded by a large police contingent, including two SWAT officers, as she was led into and out of Caldwell County courthouse.
Police took no chances with security as Baker, 42, entered not guilty pleas to two counts each of felony identity theft and felony obtaining property by false pretences.
Elisa Baker and Zahra's biological father, Adam Baker, made separate court appearances yesterday, local time, for charges unrelated to Zahra's death.
Elisa and Adam Baker have both faced death threats since Zahra was first reported missing from their home in Hickory, North Carolina, on October 9 last year.
heh heh FEDERAL charges. she is never getting out.
now let's see them get adam.
Hickory Record
CHARLOTTE --
Elisa Baker was indicted on seven counts of drug charges in federal court Wednesday.
The stepmother to 10-year-old Zahra Baker, Elisa Baker is accused of distributing and conspiring to distribute the prescription drugs Oxycodone, Hydrocodone and Alprazolam between May 2006 and October 2010.
The investigation into Baker’s missing stepdaughter began on Oct. 9, 2010, and she was arrested by Hickory police for obstruction the following day.
Baker, 42, is charged with:
* One count of conspiring with others known and unknown to distribute and possess with intent to distribute the controlled substance of Oxycodone, Hydrocodone and Alprazolam from 2006 to October 2010 in Caldwell and Catawba counties;
* One count of distribute and possess with intent to distribute the controlled substance of Oxycodone from May 2006 to October 2010 in Caldwell and Catawba counties;
* One count of distribute and possess with intent to distribute the controlled substance of Hydrocodone in Caldwell and Catawba counties from May 2006 to October 2010;
* One count of distribute and possess with intent to distribute the controlled substance of Alprazolam from May 2006 to October 2010;
* One count of maintaining a residence in Granite Falls to distribute the controlled substances of Oxycodone, Hydrocodone and Alprazolam from July 24, 2009, to Nov. 9, 2009;
* One count of maintaining a residence in Hudson to distribute the controlled substances of Oxycodone, Hydrocodone and Alprazolam from Nov. 13, 2009 to April 8, 2010;
* One count of maintaining a residence in Hickory to distribute the controlled substances of Oxycodone, Hydrocodone and Alprazolam from July 2010 to October 2010.
Hydrocodone and Oxycodone, also known as Oxycontin, are prescription medications used to treat moderate pain and are in the opiate family. Alprazolam, also known as Xanax, is primarily used for anxiety.
The indictment lists the addresses of the apartment complex and mobile home where Baker and her husband, Adam, lived in Caldwell County, as well as the house they rented in Hickory.
Shirley Mims and her husband, Darrell, lived next door to the Bakers when they lived at the Congress Street Apartments in Granite Falls. The manager of the apartment complex, Shirley said she suspected something was going on when the Bakers lived there in 2009.
When she was interviewed in October 2010, Shirley said, “I think a lot of drugs were involved. The first of the month, there were cars, cars cars, and they only stayed a minute.”
Shirley eventually asked the Bakers to leave the apartment complex because Adam and Elisa screamed and fought so much.
“One-and-a-half days after we asked them to move, they were gone,” Shirley said. “I got the impression they didn’t want the police here.”
Baker was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations and the Hickory Policy Department.
Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, according to Anne M. Tompkins, U.S attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. The conspiracy to distribute and three counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute also carry a fine of up to $1 million. The three counts of maintaining a place to distribute a controlled substance carries a fine of up to $250,000. Baker is facing $4.75 million in fines and 140 years in jail if she is convicted of all charges and receives the maximum punishment.
Baker’s first court appearance in U.S. District Court has not been scheduled. She is still jailed in Catawba County on charges related to Zahra’s Baker’s death.
Baker’s stepdaughter, Zahra, went missing in the fall. Hickory police determined it to be a homicide. Most of her body was found dismembered in parts of Caldwell County in October and November. Investigators believe Zahra likely died on Sept. 24 and her body disposed of the following day.
Baker has been charged with second-degree murder and obstruction of justice in Zahra’s death. She is also facing a host of other charges unrelated to the case in Catawba and Caldwell counties.
A day after Elisa Baker was indicted by a federal grand jury on drug charges, her former neighbors are saying they aren’t surprised by the news.
“I figured they’d get her some time,” said Peggy Johnson, who lives in the Country Manor Estates mobile home park in Hudson where Elisa and Adam Baker used to live.
The Bakers lived there with daughter Zahra from November 2009 through July 2010. Johnson’s trailer is at the top of the hill with a clear view of the street, and only three lots away from where the Bakers lived.
Johnson said she saw frequent traffic through their street when the Bakers lived there.
“I saw people pull up, and she would go to the underpinning,” Johnson said of Elisa Baker. “They would hand something to her.”
She said Baker went to the upper end of the trailer and lift up one piece of the underpinning, which is the part that encloses the underside of the mobile home. Johnson said she wasn’t sure what, exactly, the people in the cars would hand to Baker, but she could see what Baker would hand to the people in the cars.
“I could see it was a sandwich bag,” Johnson said.
She said that Baker and Adam handed items to the cars that drove up to their home.
“It was day and night, it didn’t matter,” Johnson said. “There were a lot of different cars.”
i agree with this article deeming adam as an imbecile, but i don't think that lets him off the hook. abject stupidity is not a defense.
Adelaide Now
US Correspondent Paul Toohey
HE'S a wholesale idiot with a low IQ and the self-confessed worst dad in the world, but no murderer.
That is the view of North Carolina police and prosecutors of Adam Baker, the Australian father of 10-year-old cancer sufferer Zahra, who was allegedly murdered and dismembered by her stepmother, Elisa Baker, late last year.
A senior source said Adam Baker would almost certainly never be charged in association with his daughter's death, and revealed why authorities believe he had no knowledge of her murder.
Mr Baker's behaviour at the time was so baffling it appeared possible he could be charged as an accessory to his daughter's death.
Mr Baker reported Zahra missing from their home in Hickory, North Carolina, on October 9, last year, on the same day Ms Baker allegedly wrote a false ransom note saying Zahra had been kidnapped.
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It emerged that Zahra had been missing from her home for 15 days before Mr Baker noticed his daughter was gone.
How was that possible?
"You're talking about a wholesale idiot," said a North Carolina source of Adam Baker.
Authorities are convinced that Mr Baker is so gullible and stupid that he was completely fooled by Ms Baker, who flew to Australia to marry him while still married to another man.
Federal prosecutors last week charged Elisa Baker, also known as Elise Young, with dealing prescription painkiller drugs from various trailer parks and apartments where she lived in North Carolina, including from the house where Ms Baker allegedly murdered Zahra.
Authorities have not charged Mr Baker over this matter, because they do not believe he was aware she was running an illegal drug distribution business under his nose.
Authorities believe Mr Baker had no knowledge of the drug dealership.
"This goes to what I have always believed about him: that he is almost pathologically numb-nutted," the source said.
"I don't know his IQ, but he is the self-confessed worst dad in the world.
"Given the alternatives, the only alternative is that he was unaware (of Zahra's murder)."
On the day Mr Baker reported Zahra missing, he told a 911 operator that his daughter was coming into puberty and was "hitting that brooding stage, so we only see her when she comes out when she wants something".
Authorities believe Ms Baker convinced her husband Zahra did not want to see him for 15 days and that he genuinely believed Zahra was going through some pre-teen stage.
The only thing that has impressed authorities about Mr Baker is his guilelessness.
"What kind of man would meet a woman in a Goth online chatroom, fly her over to Australia?" the source said.
"Look at her: she's not exactly a winsome woman. He marries her, and then takes his cancer-ridden, one-legged, deaf daughter, who's being taken care of, to America?
"What kind of guy would do that in the first place?
"You're talking about a wholesale idiot."
Elisa Baker has been indicted for second-degree murder, obstruction of justice and along with her new drug charges, faces multiple counts of bigamy, fraud and identity theft.
Mr Baker, who is wearing an ankle monitor and has no valid visa for the US, remains facing charges of obtaining property - believed to be electricity supply - under a false name.
He sat into the jury box and waited for the judge to call his name on the docket. He did not look at his mother, Karen, who was sitting in the last row of the gallery with a friend.
![[Image: Zy3rKpW.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Zy3rKpW.png)
Killian added that Baker has to "rely on the charity of others." 
![[Image: 14485061_BG1.jpg]](http://wbtv.images.worldnow.com/images/14485061_BG1.jpg)
