Minnesota DOC seeking on-the-run sex offender with ties to Detroit Lakes

The Minnesota Department of Corrections is searching for a predatory offender who is on the run. 

In a news release Wednesday, the DOC said 55-year-old Robert Thomas Baca, a Level 3 sex offender, was last seen in California but his historical ties to Minnesota. 

Baca's criminal history includes failure to register as a predatory offender (2015 and 2011), second-degree criminal sexual conduct (1997), escape from custody, motor vehicle theft and receiving stolen property, the DOC says.

Baca was released from the DOC on Oct. 5, 2020, with his supervision transferred to the California Department of Corrections in San Bernardino, where he has family and a support system.

On May 11, he was released from the Southwest Regional Detention Center in Murrieta, California, where he was being questioned on new charges, the DOC says. He was instructed to report to his agent's office in California the next day, but he failed to do so. 

Baca is listed as a wanted fugitive as of May 14 on the DOC's website. 

Baca's last known residence was in Ontario, California where he has ties to family members. He also has family in Hastings, Nebraska, and historical ties to the Detroit Lakes area of Minnesota. 

He is described as a 5-foot-8 white man who weighs 185 pounds. He has gray hair, but a possibly shaved head, hazel eyes and fair skin. 

The DOC is asking anyone with information on where he is or what he's been doing to call 911, the DOC fugitive hotline at 651-603-0026 or the investigator in charge at 651-802-4579.

If you see Baca, don't confront him. Call 911 immediately.