Bellingham man sentenced to 15 years to life for sexually abusing 5 girls

BELLINGHAM -- A 59-year-old Bellingham man was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years to life for sexually abusing five girls.

The Bellingham Herald said Charles Fisher Baggett Jr., the former owner of Baggett & Sons Marine Restoration, was sentenced by a Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Deborra Garrett under a plea agreement.

Baggett pleaded guilty earlier this year to slightly reduced charges: three counts of child rape in the first degree, though all five girls are named, by their initials, as victims, the Herald said. Each girl was younger than 12 when the abuse started.

Authorities said he started molesting the girls in 2009.