After being away for a month, he returned and three days later, on September 25, was arrested before dawn under a warrant issued during his absence. He was charged with high misdemeanors and spent the next 13 months in the Fredericton jail. Baker served the first seven months in jail because he could not afford both to post bail and, in a civil process, repay an overdue debt. In May, 1828, he was convicted by a jury "for violently opposing and resisting His Majesty's authority and the execution of the laws in the upper part of the parish of Kent, and attempting to seduce His Majesty's subjects there to depart from their allegiance to His Majesty", fined £25 and jailed for two months unless the fine was paid. After two months, Baker still refused to pay the fine and was held in jail until October 21, when he did post bond to pay his fine before year-end.