Iowa man sentenced to prison on felony kidnapping charge in Mower County District Court

An Iowa man who abducted a woman from the YMCA in Austin and later threatened to kill her on March 9th, 2020 has been sentenced to prison time in Mower County District Court. 

22-year old Keshaun Austin Baker of Bettendorf, IA, was sentenced Tuesday to three years and five months in prison, with credit for 34 days already served after pleading guilty on April 28th to one felony count of kidnapping.

Austin Police reported that Baker forced a woman into a vehicle at the YMCA and drove off with her. Officers then found the vehicle, with Baker and his victim inside, in a parking lot near East Side Lake. The woman told officers that Baker had dragged her into the vehicle, told her that he had a knife, and had threatened to kill her.

Baker initially pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him on October 1st, 2020, and felony charges for stalking, harassment, aggravated violations, possession of a dangerous weapon and for terroristic threats, plus a misdemeanor charge for domestic assault in the case against Baker were dismissed with his guilty plea.