SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Missouri, man who worked as a teacher in China was sentenced in federal court today for sexually exploiting one of his former students by attempting to blackmail her into sending him pornographic images.
Curtis J. Baldwin, 48, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 41 years and eight months in federal prison without parole. The Court also sentenced Baldwin to spend the rest of his life on supervised release after incarceration.
On Oct. 5, 2020, Baldwin pleaded guilty to one count of the sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of receiving and distributing child pornography.
Baldwin worked as an English language teacher in China. Baldwin left his employment on Nov. 20, 2019. After he returned to Springfield, he contacted a 12-year-old former student, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, via the WeChat application. Baldwin told Jane Doe he had video footage that showed her engaged in sexually explicit conduct and threatened to post the video on the Internet unless she sent him additional images and a video of herself engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Here is the back-and-forth that Baldwin and the victim had, via Law & Crime:
Baldwin: It looks like you were having fun. I have not shown this to anyone, but I might put it in the internet for people to see. Unless you send me some pictures.
Jane Doe 2: why? ?
Baldwin: I want to see all of you.
Jane Doe 2: why you done that to me
Baldwin: I have not shown to anyone. Nobody knows. I want you to send me a video of you doing that with no clothes on.
Jane Doe 2: but could you delete
Baldwin: Or I will put this video on the internet for everyone to see.
Jane Doe 2: And I can tell you for sure that I don’t.
Baldwin: If you send me a video, I will delete it. I want you to send me a naked video of you.
Jane Doe’s father saw the WeChat messages and contacted authorities at the language school, who relayed the information to the FBI for investigation.
The complaint stated “on or about November 14, 2019, Jane Doe 1, an approximately 5-year-old Chinese female, who was a student at EF Education First China School, a location in China, informed her parents that Baldwin had touched her inappropriately. The parents of Jane Doe 1 reported her disclosures to EF Education First personnel.”
“School personnel reviewed surveillance camera footage from the school facility’s Closed Circuit TV (CCTV). The surveillance footage consisted of 10 videos between 14 and 43 seconds in length. The description provided by school personnel indicated that the videos depicted Baldwin kissing (on the lips and face), hugging, and possibly touching Jane Doe 1 on her private areas.”
“On December 25, 2019, EF Education First China School personnel received a complaint from the parents of Jane Doe 2, a 12-year-old Chinese juvenile female. Jane Doe 2’s parents reported that Baldwin had contacted Jane Doe 2 via the WeChat application. WeChat is a Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media, and mobile payment application. Baldwin demanded Jane Doe 2 produce sexually explicit pictures and/or a video of herself to send to Baldwin. Baldwin stated in the WeChat messages that if Jane Doe 2 failed to do this, he would publicize a video he had of Jane Doe 2, which appeared to depict Jane Doe 2 engaged in sexually explicit activity, on the Internet.”
On March 10, 2020, federal agents executed a search warrant at Baldwin’s residence. Multiple items were seized, including Baldwin’s Apple MacBook Pro, which contained files of child pornography. Multiple videos of minor Chinese females engaged in sexually explicit conduct that had been produced by Baldwin were among the files. The minor Chinese females were students of Baldwin. The files also contained a sexually explicit video titled “My First Project,” created by Baldwin of a minor female in Springfield.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the FBI and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force.
