King City police sergeant sentenced to five years of probation.

When King City Police Sgt. Mark Allen Baker agreed to a plea deal in December, his attorney, Tom Worthington, said Baker didn't deserve to go to jail. 

"This man should not go to jail," Worthington told the Weekly. “He’s a good man who made a real serious mistake.”

Baker was sentenced May 1 to 90 days in jail, which has the option of serving on confinement instead. The maximum jail sentence was one year. 

Baker was also sentenced to 100 hours of community service and five years probation, during which he is not allowed to possess firearms. 

Baker pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment after he was charged in February 2014 with a felony of making criminal threats. 

The charges stemmed from a confrontation in August 2013. Baker's personal truck was stolen and stripped. The vehicle was recovered three days later by KCPD. 

While in uniform, Baker confronted Leon Infante, a supposed suspect of the car theft. He approached Infante at a motel and said he would “make him disappear, and not to jail," according to prosecutors.

Infante confessed to Baker that he had items stolen from the truck, including a gate key to Baker's Paso Robles home, and prosecutors say Baker gave him two hours to return those belonging—plus $40 for gas. He did, and Baker never filed a police report about the incident. 

"The way in which Mark acted was just not appropriate for a peace officer in uniform," Worthington said.

Baker does not plan to return to law enforcement. He may be called to testify in ongoing criminal cases against fellow police officers.