Former student awaits trial for Internet sex charges

Last fall, Galen Baughman was on his way to attaining his dream of becoming a professional singer. Today he sits in a detention center in Arlington County, Va., awaiting a trial that could decide his fate.\nThe former IU student, who was charged in April in a White Plains City Court in Westchester, N.Y., with five counts of soliciting sex with a minor over the Internet and attempted dissemination of indecent materials to minors, has now been charged with similar violations in his home state of Virginia.\nBaughman, 19, was most recently arrested on May 19 and is being held without bond in the Arlington County Detention Center. The new charges that have been added to Baughman's record are carnal knowledge of a minor, crimes against nature and use of communication systems to facilitate offenses involving children. \nBaughman was initially arrested at his apartment in Bloomington on April 14. He was extradited to the Westchester County Jail, but was released after posting bond.\nMatt Martin, public information officer for the Arlington County Police Department, said Baughman could face up to 25 years in prison if he gets the maximum punishment for all three violations. Information about the victims is being withheld because of the nature of this case, but Martin did say the number of those victimized is fewer than 10. \n"We don't really know how many victims are out there," Martin said. "We have his name and picture available in hopes that if there are more victims they will come forward."\nThe Arlington County Police Department was notified of Baughman's misconduct by Westchester County investigators who had already been looking into Baughman's behavior.\nAccording to a spokeswoman from Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office, the investigation began in Westchester County this spring when the mother of a 14-year-old boy alerted the authorities of the nature of the e-mails that Baughman had been sending her son. An investigator from the District Attorney's office took on the teenager's identity and was witness to the sexually explicit e-mails that Baughman was sending. \nNo date has been set for a trial in either state.