Waipake, Kaua’i resident Gary James Baldwin, out on bail and confined to O’ahu by a court order, could face some stiff sentencing if convicted of felonies he is charged with in Arizona. The president and chief executive officer of the
Waipake, Kaua’i resident Gary James Baldwin, out on bail and confined to O’ahu by a court order, could face some stiff sentencing if convicted of felonies he is charged with in Arizona.
The president and chief executive officer of the Kauai Economic Development Board was arrested at Waipake on Monday, July 22, on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
A warrant for his arrest was issued nearly 16 years ago, in the Phoenix area in Maricopa County, Ariz. for four counts of felony theft and one count of felony fraud (technically fraudulent schemes and artifices).
The penalties according to a general crimes sentencing ranges sheet from the Maricopa County attorney’s office indicates Baldwin could face several years in prison, with no possibility of probation because of the alleged multiple offenses, if convicted.
The minimum sentence for the fraud charge is three years, with a maximum of 12.5 years. Each of the four theft charges could carry sentences of two to seven years, could be imposed for each charge, and could be ordered to be served consecutively, for a total, potentially, of 35 years.
If convicted of all the charges, and given the stiffest possible sentences, ordered served consecutively, Baldwin could face over 47 years in prison. If convicted and given minimum sentences, served concurrently, the jail time could be as little as three years.
Paperwork authorizing Baldwin’s extradition from Hawai’i to Arizona is being processed by both states.
At an extradition hearing last week, Baldwin denied the charges against him.
The crimes allegedly occurred during the latter part of 1984, and according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, when Baldwin found out about the warrant, he left a suicide note and disappeared, apparently from Colorado.
The case allegedly involves a private jet sale gone bad, where Baldwin apparently brokered a deal to sell a jet to a Phoenix eye surgeon with whom he had become friends with and a business consultant for, when they met through mutual friends in Colorado.
