Judge agrees to sentence Camillus man to 7 years in state prison.
Former Syracuse police officer Fredrick J. Baunee (right) walks into Judge Anthony Aloi's court Monday with his attorney Paul Carey. Baunee pleaded guilty this morning to charges he sexually abused two teenage boys and that he was running a drug trafficking ring from his Camillus home. Former Syracuse police officer Fredrick J. Baunee pleaded guilty this morning to charges he sexually abused two teenage boys and that he was running a drug trafficking ring from his Camillus home.
In a surprise move, Baunee pleaded guilty before County Judge Anthony Aloi to two felony counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one felony count of fourth-degree conspiracy.
Aloi agreed to sentence Baunee to 7 years in state prison. Baunee also will be required to register as a convicted sex offender.
Baunee, 49, was named May 5 in a 46-count indictment accusing him of running a drug ring from his home in which Camillus teenagers were used as drug buyers and sellers, vandals and for sexual activities.
Baunee entered the guilty plea moments after Aloi rejected a defense request to suppress any oral statements Baunee made to Camillus police officers as they were driving him to jail last September.
The sex abuse pleas involve allegations Baunee engaged in sexual conduct with a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old boy while they were sleeping at his home.
Fredrick Baunee (right) confers with his attorney Paul Carey Monday in Judge Anthony Aloi's court. Baunee pleaded guilty to avoid putting his family through a trial and to avoid consecutive sentences, Carey said.The conspiracy charge involved allegations that he sold marijuana to numerous youths and had some of them sell marijuana for him to their friends during the period from June to September 2009. The conspiracy count also accused him of sexually molesting the two boys in exchange for providing them with marijuana, cigarettes and alcohol.
The conspiracy count also covered allegations Baunee had several youths break the windows of Pacino's PIzzeria in retaliation for an employee reportedly stealing drug proceeds from one of his drug sellers.
Defense lawyer Paul Carey said Baunee chose to plead guilty to avoid putting his family through the trauma of a trial and to escape the possibility of a harsher series of consecutive sentences if convicted.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Michael Ferrante and Assistant District Attorney Cindi Newtown said they believed the 7-year prison sentence was an appropriate penalty and would be acceptable to the victims involved.
Ferrante said the prosecutors met with the victims and their families about six weeks ago to discuss possible plea deals in the case. Nothing was agreed to at that point and the victims all were willing to come into court to testify if Baunee's case went to trial, the prosecutor said.
Baunee's case was in court today for Aloi to hand down the suppression decision and also to set a trial date.
Ferrante and Newtown both confessed to being taken by surprise by Baunee's decision to plead guilty today since they had not heard anything back from the defense about taking any deal.
Ferrante said the defense had recently offered to have Baunee plead guilty in exchange for a four-year state prison sentence. But the prosecution didn't believe four years in prison was a sufficient punishment and made the counter offer calling for a seven-year prison term, Ferrante said.
"Seven years in state prison for anybody is a long time," he said. It may be even harder for a former police officer like Baunee, he said.
"He should have known this kind of activity had some consequences to it," Ferrante said.
Both Ferrante and Newtown said they consider the youths who were involved in buying drugs from Baunee and selling drugs for him to be victims. No charges have been lodged or will be lodged against any of them, Ferrante said.
"They were victims of a predator, a person who had control over them," Ferrante said. He said Baunee appeared to have chosen the specific youths for that very reason.
The drug trafficking took place while Baunee was on probation for a 2008 child endangering conviction involving allegations he provided alcohol to a 14-year-old boy in May 2007. He retired from the police department while that case was pending.
Newtown, who prosecutes cases for the Special Victims Bureau, said there were no allegations Baunee subjected that boy to sexual contact. But she said officials suspected a sexual element might have developed had there not been another youth present at the time.
Carey today said there was no pattern of conduct that would indicate Baunee had any history of sexually abusing boys prior to his entering the guilty plea to those felony sex abuse charges today.
According to the defense lawyer, Baunee's decision to plead guilty also was helped along by a prosecution threat to file new witness-tampering charges against him in the case.
Had he gone to trial, been convicted and received consecutive penalties, Baunee very likely would have died in prison, Carey said.
"That essentially would have been a life sentence," he said.
Carey said he expected Baunee would serve his sentence in a special state prison unit set aside for special prisoners, like police officers and child molesters.
Aloi warned Baunee the seven-year sentence deal is off if he gets in any new trouble before sentencing or if he violates any of the 15 orders of protection for the youths involved in the case. Baunee had no comment as he left court with his mother after entering the guilty pleas.
Sentencing is set for Nov. 8 and Aloi allowed Baunee to remain free on $100,000 bail until then.