ROANOKE, Va. – A Roanoke man on federal supervised release for a prior conviction involving soliciting minors has pleaded guilty to witness tampering, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Lenny Baldwin Jr., 30, admitted to sending sexually explicit text messages to a 16-year-old boy, actions that he knew violated the terms of his supervised release, officials said.
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Baldwin faces a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years. A federal district court judge will determine his sentence, considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other relevant factors.
Court records show Baldwin was released from federal prison on May 10, 2023, and began supervised release. During the summer, while employed at Dollar Tree, Baldwin befriended a 16-year-old boy identified as ‘MV1′ and spent time with the boy and his mother at their home in Roanoke.
In October 2023, Baldwin started exchanging sexually explicit messages with MV1 using an iPhone. Baldwin used the phone’s “unsend” feature to delete three messages to hide them, aware that these communications breached his supervised release conditions. The next day, Baldwin contacted MV1 from a different phone number, asking him to delete their messages to avoid “the wrong eyes” seeing them.
On November 30, 2023, Baldwin resumed texting MV1 from another phone with a new number, which he did not report to his probation officer. These messages were again sexually explicit and violated his release terms. Baldwin requested that MV1 delete these messages as well, telling him that he did not want “the wrong eyes” to see the messages.
On December 24, 2023, Baldwin sent additional sexually explicit messages to MV1, continuing to violate his supervised release.
Throughout these exchanges, Baldwin repeatedly deleted messages and urged MV1 to do the same to conceal their communications from his probation officer.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement- Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the City of Roanoke Police Department.