Missing Mount Dora woman's husband's child porn arrest startles neighbors: 'He seemed really nice'
Missing Florida woman's husband arrested
Brett Baldwin, the husband of missing Mount Dora woman Nicole Baldwin, was arrested Thursday for a crime unrelated to his wife's disappearance. Detectives seized his phone for a search warrant at his home and they discovered multiple videos of child pornography on it, according to the Mount Dora Police Department. Now, he's being held in federal custody at the Marion County Jail.
MOUNT DORA, Fla. - As the search for a missing Mount Dora woman continues, law enforcement officials are now investigating another crime involving that family: child porn charges against her husband.
Signs are still hung up at the front of Nicole Baldwin’s neighborhood, asking for any information on her disappearance.
Multiple people told FOX 35 they know her husband and didn’t suspect him of any crime. So when they saw his mugshot, they were confused.
"They had the neighborhood get-together last night down the street, and that’s what everybody’s talking about every day," one neighbor, who asked not to share their identity, told FOX 35.
As part of the investigation into Nicole Baldwin’s disappearance on Nov. 2, the Department of Homeland Security said it seized the phone belonging to her husband, Brett Baldwin. That’s when they found the images and videos that put him behind bars.
"It’s beyond horrible," a neighbor said.
Brett Baldwin’s arrest affidavit describes, in disturbing detail, child pornography on Brett Baldwin’s phone that included girls as young as two years old.
Photo: Department of Homeland Security
Multiple neighbors told FOX 35 their kids would play at the Baldwins’ house. They thought they knew the family pretty well, and said it’s been difficult to grasp the thought that they may have been so wrong about a man they’d trusted up until just yesterday.
"He seemed really nice," a neighbor said. "Like a regular parent in the neighborhood."
On Friday, the house the Baldwins lived in had been stripped bare and the rental’s door left wide open for several hours. Brett Baldwin’s arrest affidavit said he brought his 11-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son to his mother’s house in Wildwood, but had been planning a move to North Carolina.
Two different neighbors told FOX 35 they heard him mention that move.
"It’s pretty spooky," one neighbor said.
Mount Dora Interim Police Chief Michael Gibson told FOX 35 on Friday that they’re continuing the search for Nicole Baldwin, but added, "At this juncture in the investigation, we are not going to comment on the status of the investigation."
The U.S. Attorney’s Office told FOX 35 that Baldwin was supposed to have his detention hearing Friday. They waived it, however, so he’ll be staying in federal custody at the Marion County Jail.