Sexual Predator Joe Baker Takes Job at La Felicidad Hotel in Esterillos, Costa Rica

The small surfer town of Esterillos has had a major change - one that the townfolks are not happy about.

Maria used to send her eldest daughter, 13, down the hill to the supermarket to pick up vegetables and other products about twice a week. Her daughter had to pass the yellow house on the corner. But now Maria walks the 3/4 mile round trip herself, leaving her daughter in a newly installed locked house. She fears for her daughter’s safety; she does not want “this evil” – convicted pedophile Joe Baker lives in that yellow house – to know she even has a daughter.

Esterillos is one of those traditional Costa Rica beach towns with palms and almond trees lining the beach. Its crystal clear blue ocean is an invitation to take a swim. A person driving south from Jacó or north from Quepos can easily miss the turnoff sign. A few Americans and Canadians expats live there, and the town knows everyone. The only thing the police worry about is an occasional drunk. For a long time it was sort of a secret surf spot to a chosen few; but lately there have been a couple of changes.

First, Esterillos has become a very popular surfing destination. The second change occurred during the second week of April 2010:  that is when Joe Baker, following his release from prison after serving ONLY 10 years of his 25-year sentence for sexually abusing underage girls, found a home in the center of Esterillos. He then took the town by shock by getting hired as a hotel manager/bartender at a small local tourist hotel, Hotel La Felicidad.

The tourist hotel La Felicidad has hired sexual predator, Joe Baker.

An American (who lives in the US), Abe Craddock, owns the hotel; messages left at the hotel asking “Why have you hired this sexual predator?” have gone unanswered. One person commented: “Craddock wanted an experienced manager/bartender to increase his sales.”

Makes you wonder what type of experience he is talking about?

In 1996, Joe Baker and his friend, Boston dentist Arthur Kanev (who is still behind bars), lured girls 12, 13 and 14 years old to their luxury house in Quepos, supplied them with drugs and alcohol, raped them repeatedly, and took pictures. Both were arrested in 1999.

It has been reported that hookers are frequently seen entering and leaving Baker’s house, and he often bring them to the hotel. He walks around freely like he owns the town.

A reader, seeing Baker in his car, jumped out and plastered our mug-shot of him on Baker’s windshield. Baker in turn, gave him an arrogant look, shrugged his shoulders, and moved on like it was no big deal.

Employees of the hotel live in fear. They are afraid of loosing their job if they speak out. They fear for the safety of their children as Maria does. Many wonder how in the hell an American who is a convicted molester of underage girls, a person whom the government should have deported immediately he stepped out of prison, is allowed to work in Costa Rica.

U.S. law enforcement agencies’ hands are tied. Baker is not wanted in the United States, so extradition is out of the question. Baker committed his crime in Costa Rica, served less than one-half his time there, and was released. When Baker was indulging his sexual appetite for young teenage girls, there were no strict laws in Costa Rica governing the sexual abuse of minors. Costa Rica was a haven for foreign pedophiles.

Since Baker’s arrival (1996), arrest (1999), conviction and subsequent 10 years in prison, his U.S. passport must have expired – unless he has somehow renewed it. This may be more ammunition for deportation. Costa Rican law requires all passports of foreigners in the country – residents and tourists alike – to be current. More than that, if your passport expires less than 30 days after your scheduled arrival, Costa Rica will not let you enter the country, even if your return flight or exit is scheduled before the expiration date.

However, as far as we know, the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (Costa Rican Immigration Department) has not contacted Baker.

Nor, as far as we know, have the Ministry of Labor or Costa Rica’s Social Security System taken any action. Baker, as far as we are aware, has no work permit, a requirement for all foreigners employed by an enterprise operating in Costa Rica. This is another cause for deportation. According to Costa Rica labor law (agree with it or not), Baker has taken a job away from Costa Rican citizen.

So why has the government not taken action against or deported this evil man?

The even bigger question, of course, is why did Abe Craddock hire this convicted pedophile who has menaced and put fear into a small town?

We sent e-mails to a few Costa Rica immigration attorneys asking how this person is allowed to stay. Not one of them replied. Why?

According to other emails we have received, everyone in the neighborhood where Baker lives is paranoid, scared, angry, and wants him out of town. It is whispered on every street corner, every business, and in just about every home.

One email we received says a mother put a curfew on her 13-year-old daughter, who must be home by 4 PM. Others, like Maria, are now locking their doors. Normally you see kids playing soccer in the local parks and young girls gathering on the streets in groups of twos, threes and fours in the early evening, but now at 9 PM, streets are empty.

Another surprise: the American-run Esterillos blog has not said one word about the new neighbor. It is because the retired Americans who run the blog don’t care, or are they just laying low in the hope that it will just go away. Their last blog posting in March was something about a recycling depot, and even their Facebook page  says nothing about Joe Baker.

Why?

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