Paso Robles man now on trial in molestation and child porn case involving 36 victims
A Paso Robles woman recounted in San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Tuesday catching her neighbor taking lewd cell phone photos of her adolescent daughter, leading to an arrest that eventually revealed dozens of victims of child abuse and secret video recording.
Jason Robert Porter was arrested in June 2016 after allegedly being caught by his former friend and neighbor and was arrested again weeks later after investigators found “thousands” of images and videos of children engaging in sexual acts, including some showing Porter molesting children, during a search of his home and electronic devices.
Porter is also accused of installing a video camera in the bathroom of his parents’ Paso Robles home, where his family would regularly host pool parties for neighbors and other family.
Officials say Porter secretly filmed both children and adults in the home’s bathroom; footage was allegedly found during the search.
Porter has remained in San Luis Obispo County Jail since his arrest, with bail posted at $7 million.
He has pleaded not guilty to 58 criminal counts, including 17 felony charges of committing sex acts on a child and possession of child pornography, as well as 41 misdemeanor charges of invasion of privacy for the alleged bathroom camera.
The charging document in the case lists four child victims of physical sexual abuse who were between the ages of 4 and 7 years old at the time. An additional 32 minors were identified in film and photo evidence recovered by authorities.
The county’s assistant district attorney, Eric Dobroth, previously told The Tribune he’s never seen a local criminal case involving so many victims.
Porter faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.
Woman physically wrestled phone from defendant
The case against Porter has stretched on for five years — supposedly the county’s longest ongoing criminal case — and has been delayed several times after Porter fired his public defender and insisted on representing himself.
Ultimately, Porter agreed to be represented by defense attorney Jeffry Radding, and opted just last month to proceed with a no-jury bench trial before Superior Court Judge Barry LaBarbera, who will issue verdicts in the case.
Neither Radding nor Deputy District Attorney Melissa Chabra made opening statements Tuesday at the beginning of the trial, which is expected to last two weeks.
The Tribune is not identifying any of the victims or their relatives who testify in the case to protect their privacy.
On Tuesday, Chabra called Porter’s former neighbor as the prosecution’s first witness.
The woman testified that on June 23, 2016, she arrived to her home to find Porter there drinking a beer with her husband. Porter’s two young sons were also there playing with the couple’s daughters, the eldest of which was 7 years old, according to testimony.
Due to the late hour, the husband retired to bed and the woman attempted to get Porter to leave by telling the girls to start getting ready for bed, she said. Porter then asked to use the restroom, she said.
The woman said she then found Porter in her daughter’s bedroom, squatted in front of her with his hands under the girl’s nightgown.
“I saw a flash go off on his phone,” said testified.
She said she immediately demanded to see the phone, which Porter refused to hand over. The two got into a physical scuffle over the phone, which the woman was able to get away from Porter and toss to her husband, who was woken by the commotion.
While the woman held Porter at bay, the husband opened the phone and saw a photo of his daughter in her underwear taken from below.
Though it wasn’t exactly clear from the testimony, Porter was able to get the phone back from the husband and demanded that the couple discuss what happened.
“I told him to get the F out,” the woman said.
But once the family called 911, Porter attempted to leave, the woman said. That’s when another physical struggle ensued, and the woman grabbed another point-and-shoot camera from Porter’s pocket.
Porter then fled to a neighboring property, where the woman said she saw him toss his phone into some brush. Once he emerged, Porter said he “was fine waiting for the cops,” who arrived within a few minutes.
The woman retrieved the phone from the brush and gave it to one of the responding officers, who viewed the images, she said.
“He asked (Porter), ‘Do you get off on that kind of stuff?’ And he said, ‘Yeah,’” the woman testified.
Realizing she still had Porter’s point-and-shoot camera, she opened the device and found more lewd images of children.
“At that point, the dominoes started falling in my head,” said the woman — who had been friends with Porter and his family for years.
She recalled that about two years prior to Porter’s arrest, one of her daughters had told the couple of an unspecified incident with Porter, which the couple had been working their way toward discussing with him.
She testified that Porter was known to always have a camera on him, and that he would obsessively photograph their gatherings.
“Pictures that didn’t seem right — strange,” the woman said.
The woman said it was also common knowledge that Porter had an office room in the house that he always kept locked and forbid anyone for entering when he wasn’t present.
She said the family once had to call a locksmith after a child was accidentally locked inside the room and Porter wasn’t there.
“He kept it locked up like Fort Knox,” she said.
At one point, Chabra, the prosecutor, showed the woman a series a photographs entered into evidence, which the witness said were of her daughter. The woman then became overcome with emotion, and LaBarbera called a recess to allow her to step down.
The woman’s husband also testified Tuesday, telling Chabra about the full range of emotions he felt after seeing the photos on Porter’s phone.
“This rage — I don’t know how to explain it,” he said.
Testimony is scheduled to resume Wednesday.
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 6:38 PM.
