A 58-year-old San Jose man who also kept a residence in Reston, Virginia, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to distribute child sexual abuse material in a federal case that began with a search of his South Bay home more than two years ago. Scott Keith Baldwin Jr. entered his plea before a federal court in San Jose, admitting to Count One in the federal case.
According to the Department of Justice, the case is identified as Case No. 5:26-cr-00053. As the East Bay Times reported, prosecutors say Baldwin was an active member of an invite-only group on an encrypted messaging platform dedicated to sharing child sexual abuse material.
What Investigators Found Inside the San Jose Home
The case traces back to July 2024, when a search warrant executed at Baldwin's San Jose residence turned up a hard drive containing images and videos tied to more than 150 known child exploitation series, per the Department of Justice. Federal authorities say the material included depictions of the sexual abuse of prepubescent minors and toddlers. The East Bay Times reported that authorities found a hard drive filled with CSAM during that search, which included images of prepubescent minors, according to authorities.
Baldwin remains in federal custody. He faces a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence and could receive a maximum sentence of 20 years, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Sentencing Set for January
Baldwin is scheduled to be sentenced on January 12, 2027, at 9 a.m. The judge will consider the Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, per the Department of Justice's account of the case.
Federal court records show Baldwin is represented by defense attorney Bruce C. Funk of the Law Office of Bruce C. Funk in San Jose, according to PacerMonitor. The case was investigated by the FBI's Child Exploitation Operational Unit with assistance from the FBI's Washington, D.C. and San Francisco Field Offices, and is being prosecuted by CEOS Trial Attorney Nadia Prinz and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marissa Harris, the Department of Justice said.
Part of a Broader Federal Crackdown
Baldwin's prosecution falls under Project Safe Childhood, the Department of Justice's nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat online child sexual exploitation by coordinating federal, state, and local law enforcement resources. The program is designed to marshal cross-agency tools to locate victims and prosecute offenders, per the agency.
National data underscores how Baldwin's case fits into a larger pattern of federal enforcement. According to U.S. Sentencing Commission figures for fiscal year 2025, 44% of individuals sentenced federally for child pornography offenses were convicted of trafficking or distribution, and 86% of those distribution offenders faced the same 5-year mandatory minimum Baldwin now confronts, with an average sentence of 141 months.
The plea comes amid Hoodline's report of the Santa Clara deputy's CSAM arrest in Cupertino this week. Baldwin's sentencing hearing in January will determine how his punishment compares with those national outcomes.
