Sarasota pastor charged with sexually abusing second victim. Others have come forward
Suspected of sexually abusing as many as 40 boys as young as 10 years old, a Sarasota pastor is now charged with abusing a second victim.
Sarasota police first arrested Henry Lee Porter, the founder of the Westcoast Center for Human Development, earlier this month and charged him with sexually abusing one boy, beginning at age 15 until he was 21. That victim had posted a video on Facebook about the abuse, which police were tipped off to in October, sparking the current investigation.
That victim was able to identify several other victims to police, after they reached out to him to show support and reveal that they, too, had been victims, according to Sarasota police.
A second victim came forward to police on Jan. 9 and detailed how Porter had sexually abused him for years, officials said. On Friday, Porter, 72, was charged with a second count of sexual battery of a child under the age of 12.
He remains is custody at the Sarasota County jail where he is being held without bond.
Porter founded and is the president of Evangelistic Association, Westcoast Center for Human Development’s parent organization. Although he turned over leadership to his son, Henry Lee Porter II, in 2016, the elder Porter led services at the church as recently as two months ago, according to Sarasota police Capt. Johnathan Todd.
The latest victim told detectives that Porter began grooming him at the age of 9, according to a probable cause affidavit. Porter began by molesting the boy, but by the time he was 11, the sexual abuse had worsened.
Detectives say the victim told them how Porter assaulted him numerous times inside his office at Westcoast Center for Human Development, 403 N. Washington Blvd., Sarasota.
Porter told the boy “to never tell anyone about them, including his mother,” according to the affidavit,and that “his mother would always believer Porter over him.”
Decades of investigation
Sarasota police have been investigating allegations that Porter was sexually abusing boys at his church and school for decades, Police Chief Bernadette DiPino said last week during a news conference.
Police first launched an investigation into Porter in 1990 but charges were never filed. Then in 2001, a second investigation was started after police received an anonymous letter that identified 40 people alleged to have been abused by Porter, according to the initial probable cause affidavit charging Porter earlier this month.
More than 20 of those victims provided a statement to police, as a result of the letter coming to light.
But police claim that either the statute of limitations or the unwillingness of victims to testify, prevented them from ever being able to charge Porter in the past.
Since the latest investigation got underway on Oct. 29, police have interviewed 14 additional victims in addition to the ones Porter is charged with abusing.
“These crimes span nearly 30 years, however due to a statute of limitations and the restrictions attached with that, we are only able to charge Mr. Porter with the current case,” DiPino said.
But with the first victim Porter was charged with sexually abusing, there is no statute of limitations under current law because it’s a capital sexual battery.
That victim told police that Porter began abusing him in 1989, when he was about 15 years old, while his parents were out of state for extended hospital stay. Porter sexually abused him often in the offices of Westcoast, police said.
The other victims who have come forward since told nearly identical stories of how Porter abused them, according to Todd.
One told police Porter assaulted him him multiple times at the church offices, Porter’s home and while they traveled together multiple times. He described to police how Porter would send for him but make him enter and exit the church office from a different door so that “Porter was not seen bringing a child back toward the inner/private office,” according to the probable cause affidavit.
Police said that victim had photos and medical records that corroborated the timeline of when the abuse occurred.
Yet another victim told police that Porter began grooming him about three to four months after he was abandoned at the church by his father when he was 12 years old. When the abuse began, as a result, he didn’t know what to do..
“He was concerned if he told anyone, first, no one would believe him and secondly, he was being raised by Porter and the church,” a detectives wrote.
The abuse occurred three to four times a week, detectives were told, including right before or after a church service.
Although, police have not been able to charge Porter with abusing the additional 14 victims they have already interviewed, police have called them “similar fact victims” permitted to testify in criminal proceedings.
“Even if statute of limitations has expired, it could still help build a case against Porter,” DiPino said, as she encouraged other victims to come forward.
Services also available for victims, regardless of the statute of limitations.
Todd thanked the victims who recently came forward for making the case possible.
“Their lives have been turned upside down from the age as early as 11. These men have gone on to raise families and start careers and try to hide these scars, so to come forward and bear these wounds and have them reopened is a big step for them,” Todd said.
Police ask that anyone with any additional information about the case can call Sarasota Police civilian investigator Jeff Birdwell at 941-263-6028.
This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 9:52 AM.
