Conway police say a 13-year-old girl's mother took her to a medical facility for an evaluation on October 27, and the facility notified police, setting off an investigation that led investigators across state lines to a 24-year-old California man who traveled from California to Conway and is accused of raping a child he met online. That man, identified as Dylan Baker, was arrested in California within days and now faces both state charges in Arkansas and a federal indictment.
According to arkansasradio.com, Conway police began investigating the reported sexual assault on October 27, after the girl's mother took her daughter in for evaluation and the medical facility notified police. Investigators determined that Baker had met the 13-year-old online and traveled from California to Conway, where the alleged crimes occurred, according to KATV.
Detectives Tracked Him Onto a Flight Home
By the time Conway detectives identified Baker as a suspect, he had already left Arkansas and was traveling by air back to California, KATV reports. Rather than lose track of him, Conway detectives coordinated with California law enforcement to take Baker into custody as soon as his flight landed, and he was apprehended shortly afterward.
Conway police credited the Burbank Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service with helping locate and apprehend Baker, per the same report. The department said its own officers and detectives worked alongside those partner agencies to close in on him quickly once his location became known.
State and Federal Charges Now Stacking Up
In Arkansas, Baker faces charges of rape of a victim younger than 14 — a Class Y felony — along with internet stalking of a child, also a Class Y felony, and traveling for the purpose of an unlawful sex act with a minor, a Class B felony, according to KATV. He is being extradited to Arkansas to face those state charges, the station reports.
The case has since drawn federal attention as well. On November 3, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Arkansas indicted Baker on one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, citing 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b), arkansasradio.com reported.
Police Urge Parents to Watch Kids' Online Activity
Conway police said they remain committed to protecting vulnerable community members and holding people accused of crimes against children accountable through the criminal justice system, KATV reported. The department also encouraged parents and guardians to monitor their children's online activities and talk with them about internet safety.
The case lands amid a broader surge in reports of children being targeted online. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's CyberTipline received 1.4 million reports of online enticement in 2025, including more than 800 reports in which an offender traveled to meet a child in person, according to missingkids.org. The organization reported a 158% increase in online-enticement reports from 2024, which it attributed in part to a 2024 law requiring electronic service providers to report such cases, and it escalated more than 53,000 reports to law enforcement in 2025 because they were urgent or involved a child in imminent danger.
