Florida Man Gets 16 Years for Sexually Exploiting Twin Baltimore County Boys He Met Through Online Game

A Florida man who used an online children’s game to meet and sexually exploit twin boys in Baltimore County was sentenced to 16 years in prison Monday.

Ross Bauman, 20, of the Tampa Bay area of Florida, pleaded guilty in May to two counts of sexual solicitation of a minor and two counts of production of child pornography.

Circuit Court Judge James Rhodes sentenced Bauman to 40 years in prison Monday and suspended all but 16 years of active incarceration. Bauman must register as a Tier II sex offender for 25 years. Upon his release, he will be on supervised sex offender probation for five years.

Investigators said Bauman contacted an 8-year-old boy in January 2025 through the online game Geometry Dash on the child’s iPad.

Bauman eventually moved their conversations to private email. Police said he repeatedly asked the second-grader to create sexual photos and videos and send them to him. Bauman also convinced the boy to involve his twin brother in the videos, police said.

A forensic analysis of the iPad, Bauman’s phone and online accounts uncovered more than 500 emails between Bauman and the boys, police said.

“This particular case represents probably a parent’s worst nightmare,” Rhodes said. He said this was not a situation in which a predator sought out children in the community to abuse in person.

“This [case] is one where everyone absolutely knows that no matter what a parent does, a sex offender can reach out to their children from another state, from another country, another continent,” Rhodes said.

Bauman has been jailed at the Baltimore County Detention Center since his extradition from Florida on Sept. 29, 2025.

The Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office had recommended a sentence of 20 years in prison, above the state sentencing guidelines of two to 12 years.

“This was not a miscalculation. This was not an error in judgment. This was essentially a coordinated attack on both of these victims that lasted several weeks,” Assistant State’s Attorney John Magee said. “He coerced them. He manipulated them for his own sexual needs.”

Bauman’s defense team argued for a sentence on the lower end of the guidelines, asking Rhodes to consider their client’s age at the time of the offense and his own history of sexual abuse.

Attorney Justin Brown said Bauman lived a very sheltered life and initially didn't perceive the seriousness of his actions.

"He thought in some twisted way that these kids had consented," Brown said. "But over time he realized that he was 100% wrong. He realized that kids that age can't consent to anything."

Brown said Bauman stopped communicating with the boys once he came to the realization that he was "essentially using them and harming them in a very severe way."

Bauman’s parents spoke on his behalf at sentencing, saying their son, whom they adopted as a baby, was exposed to drugs before birth and had psychological problems from a young age. Bauman was homeschooled and raised in a religious home, they said, and they did everything they knew to protect him from harmful people and influences.

They said they later learned that the son of a trusted family friend had sexually abused Bauman as a boy.

Bauman denied ever physically abusing a child in person. He told the judge he was extremely remorseful for his actions.

“I made a very screwed-up decision for those couple of weeks,” Bauman said, “and I completely acknowledge the fact that it was disgusting ... and it was terrible, it was frightening.”