UTAH COUNTY, Utah, April 4, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Accused murderer Jerrod William Baum has lived a life that can be documented by mug shots.
The 41-year-old Mammoth man — currently facing murder and kidnapping charges after police say he admitted to killing Eureka teens Riley Powell and Brelynne “Breezy” Otteson — has felony convictions going back to when he was 15 years old.
“Jerrod is known to law enforcement to associate with the criminal element in and around Eureka and the Juab County area,” says the probable cause statement in the teenage couple’s Dec. 30 deaths.
In fact, it is unclear whether online records of Baum’s crimes are complete, due to their age, relative to when various agencies started using the Internet.
Gephardt Daily set out to find what it could on Baum’s criminal history in the state of Utah. What follows are the records and photos that turned up in the search.
Baum was charged on March 10, 1992, for Nov. 6, 1991 crimes:
- Attempted murder, a first-degree felony
- Aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony
- Five counts of theft, a second-degree felony
- Two counts of burglary, a second-degree felony (one count dismissed)
- Theft, a third-degree felony
- Burglary, a third-degree felony
- Theft, a misdemeanor
Baum pleaded guilty to four charges of second-degree felony theft in exchange for all other charges being dismissed.
According to a 1992 Associated Press article, Baum was 15 when he was charged with attempted murder and the other crimes.
The account says Baum stole three vehicles in succession, and found a .38 caliber gun in the second vehicle and a rifle in the third. He used the handgun to rob a Heber City fast-food restaurant, firing at two employees who followed him into the parking lot, the article said.
In court records, Baum’s birthday is listed as either March 6 or 7 of 1976, which means the crimes were committed either on his 15th birthday or a day earlier.
On Sept. 12, 1994, Baum was charged with assault by a prisoner, a first-degree felony.
He ultimately pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.
A 1997 mug shot was found for Jerrod William Baum and was provided by Salt Lake County.
Associated charges could not be located in online court records.
The Utah County Jail website shows that Baum was booked into jail on Dec. 18, 2002, on charges of possession of a weapon by a restricted person.
Information on how the case was resolved could not be located in court records.
On March 20, 2003, Baum pleaded guilty to trying to purchase/possess a dangerous weapon.
His plea came after the charge was reduced from a third-degree felony to a class A misdemeanor.
Baum was charged in a Jan. 16, 2017, incident, and pleaded guilty to:
- Possession of a controlled substance, a class A misdemeanor
- Driving under the influence, a class A misdemeanor
- Use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor
He also pleaded guilty to the following in exchange for charges being reduced:
- Three counts of attempted possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, reduced from a third-degree felony to a class A misdemeanor
And this charge was dismissed:
- Possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person
In a Jan. 30, 2018, Juab County case, Baum was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a second-degree felony.
The Juab County case is ongoing.
Baum faces eight charges in the disappearance and death on Dec. 30, 2017, of teens Powell, 18, and Otteson, 17, for which he was formally charged on April 3.
The charges are:
- Two counts of aggravated murder, a first-degree felony
- Two counts of aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony
- Obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony
- Two counts of abuse or desecration of a dead human body, a third-degree felony
- Possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony
According to a probable cause statement in the case, Baum admitted to targeting the teens after they visited his girlfriend, Morgan Henderson, without his knowledge or permission, so he kidnapped them, stabbed them, and pushed them into an abandoned mine shaft in Utah County.
The 2002 charge was adjudicated in the federal court. He was senteenced to an ehanced 188 months in federal prison. A 2254 Petition for Habeas Corpus was filed in 2016, claiming Baum’s criminal past did not qualify him for the enhanced. Baum was released from federal prison in the later part of 2016.
The moral of the story is probably his criminal list would be longer, but he was in federal prison for 10 years. Lucky us.
this guy is the poster child for No-Good A-holes With a History of Violence and Criminal Activity That Women Find Irresistible. you have to really have the hots for this type to shag ‘n’ shack with them.