ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A man accused of creating a sex tape with child to promote a rap video is out of jail less than a week after his arrest.
Gevontes Baker, 21, was the focus of a two-month-long child porn investigation, along with two other men.
Baker was the only one of the three suspects released on bail, but all three men have ties to the same small community in St. Johns County.
Baker, Jontae Merritt, 18, and Marcus Kinard, 19, are accused of creating a consensual sex tape with someone under 16.
"I really can't comprehend or think that is an appropriate thing to do, or that somehow they wouldn't go to jail for it," Commander Chuck Mulligan of the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office said.
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Mulligan said detectives arrested Kinard and Merritt in November.
Deputies arrested Baker on Sunday in Duval County. He posted bond two days later. All three face sex crime charges for the video.
Investigators said the three posted the video to social media to promote their own rap music.
"I can almost assure you that there were some views or hits on that video," Mulligan said.
All three suspects have ties to the small St. Johns County town of Hastings, where Action News tracked down the three men's elementary school principal, Ethel Miles.
"They were just kids. I don't remember (them) doing anything that outrageous," Miles said.
Now the retired principal's former students are accused of harming a child. Investigators said the video surfaced on a school employee's Facebook page, and the employee reported it.
"I was very shocked to hear that because, first of all, I didn't know the kids were involved in anything like that, especially in this community," Miles said.
That video has since been removed from social media sites.
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