Jury finds music promoter Stevie Porter guilty of child molestation, possessing child porn

Found guilty on all but one of nine felony counts involving sexual misconduct with underage boys, Columbus music promoter Stevie Porter was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison Thursday.

The jury deliberated for about 4½ hours before delivering the verdict around 2:30 p.m., finding Porter guilty of child molestation and seven counts of child sexual exploitation for possessing pornographic images of teen boys. Jurors found him not guilty of enticing a child for indecent purposes.

Porter had been charged with 10 counts of sexual exploitation, which is how Georgia law defines having child pornography, but prosecutors dismissed three of those cases for lack of witnesses.

Only two of Porter’s victims were willing to testify during his trial. One was in court Thursday for the sentencing. He did not address the court, but stood with a victim’s advocate who read aloud his statement attesting to the effect the crime had on him.

During the trial, he testified that Porter showed him a pornographic video and made sexual advances on Dec. 7, 2012, when at age 14 he spent the night at Porter’s Forrest Road home.

“I felt dirty and disgusted with myself. … I feel like it was my fault,” the advocate read. “I know what it feels like every day of my life.”

It made him feel helpless, he wrote: “I don’t want to feel that way anymore.”

His mother also spoke, saying her son’s trial testimony “took him back to that night and what happened there.”

She said her son since has felt “confused, suicidal, angry. … He still felt dirty and ashamed.”

Porter’s pattern

Investigators said Porter lured boys to his home with the promise of helping them with careers in music. “He used their passion and ambition and turned it against them,” Assistant District Attorney Chris Williams said Thursday.

Detective Amanda Hogan, who investigated the case, said she has found police reports of Porter’s deviant conduct dating back to 2001, but the victims refused to pursue those complaints.

“Most of these cases never made it past interviewing the victims, which happened to be young males between that ages of 13 and 17, because of embarrassment,” she told McBride.

She said Porter’s pattern was to offer to help promote teen boys’ music, then invite them to his house, where he provided them with alcohol, marijuana, pornography and a place to have sex with their girlfriends.

“All of these things I mentioned were for him to gain trust from these young men,” she said. “That way he had them at his house, where he felt comfortable, and he was in control. He preyed on these vulnerable young boys. He had power and control over them.”

She said statistics show boys rarely report sexual abuse: Though one in every six is a victim, only 3 percent report it.

Porter’s latest victims did not immediately report him, either. He aroused suspicion himself, by calling the police to say seven or eight Carver High School students had robbed him on Jan. 26, 2013.

He said they invaded his home and demanded to know whether he was gay. They hit him with a tire iron before taking his cell phone, laptop, a computer monitor, keyboard and some cash, he said.

Prosecutors told a different story, saying a teen borrowing Porter’s cell phone found a nude image of a boy on it and said to Porter, “Hey man, you gay?” That provoked the youth and others with him to take the phone and computer gear so Porter couldn’t show the images off.

The teens showed the pictures to their parents, one of whom took the equipment to Columbus attorney Alphonza Whitaker, brother of Chief Assistant District Attorney Alonza Whitaker. The attorney surrendered the gear when police provided a search warrant for it.

On the laptop, investigators found nude photos of teen boys and a homemade video of two boys having sex with a girl. Police arrested Porter on Feb. 6, 2013.

Family stunned

Porter’s family could not believe the jury convicted him.

“The state didn’t have no evidence. There wasn’t any evidence there,” said an aunt, Doris Edgerton. “I am so disappointed.”

Said sister Deborah Jones: “I know in my heart my brother is not that kind of person.”

Porter also testified during his sentencing hearing, telling McBride he long has organized youth talent shows and life-skills workshops for local teens, for whom he was an advocate. In protecting their interests, he also has filed complaints against Columbus police, he said.

He said his charges were filed in retaliation for his activism and for his reporting the Carver High students who allegedly robbed him.

“One day when you keep telling lies, the lies are going to catch up with you,” he said, later adding, “Let me tell you something: Stevie Porter would never harm a young person.”

Defense attorney Stacey Jackson told McBride that had Porter engaged in consensual sex with a 16-year-old, it would not have been a crime, as 16 is the age of consent in Georgia. But having a nude photo of a 16-year-old, without any sexual contact, is a crime with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

“So, at some level there’s some irony in that,” he said.

Williams asked McBride to sentence Porter to 50 years in prison with 40 to serve. The judge instead sentenced him to 60 years with 30 to serve and the rest on probation.

Porter is 45 years old. He had been free on bond after spending 14 months in jail awaiting trial. After his sentencing, deputies returned him to the jail to await transfer to a state prison.

He will have to register as a sex offender upon his release.

This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 6:47 PM with the headline "Jury finds music promoter Stevie Porter guilty of child molestation, possessing child porn."