Collier County man, 66, accused of molesting teen boy, may have other victims

Warning: This story includes explicit information.

A 66-year-old Collier County man is accused of molesting a teenage boy — and there may be other victims.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office says Richard Michael Baga of Ave Maria is facing three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation on a victim aged 12 to 16.

Baga’s arrest report states the victim was a 16-year-old male who lived near him and that Baga began grooming the victim when the victim was in sixth grade.

“When they’re grooming kids, it’s a way of manipulating the child from keeping them from disclosing or telling anybody what’s happening, so they take advantage of the emotional relationship between them,” said Jackie Stephens with Children’s Advocacy Center.

“The suspect would ‘counsel’ the victim and give him life advice,” the report states, and Baga would provide the victim with gifts. It continued while the victim was in seventh grade. He would go to Baga’s home and help Baga clean the swimming pool, and Baga gave the victim and his family money, including $20,000.

“These people are manipulative and even manipulate families, kids, communities,” Stephens explained.

It was in the eighth grade that the victim began being molested, according to the report. Baga told the victim he would give him $100 every time he received oral sex from a girl, and he would have to record the acts on his cell phone as proof. The victim did record an act with a girl his age and showed it to Bagas, who had paid for the victim’s cell phone over the years, the report states.

Bagas began touching the victim and it occurred frequently, the victim told authorities. Prior to one incident, the victim asked his sister to call him so that he could get out of the situation.

The victim said he watched pornography with Baga on several occasions, with touching involved. During one incident, Baga is reported to have struck the victim with a belt, calling him a “bad boy.”

The victim told authorities the molestation ended in 2020 and he last saw Baga in December, when Baga took the victim and his family Christmas shopping.

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