ERIE — A former Ridgway man was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release and ordered to pay $1,396 in restitution for producing child pornography.
Jesse Porter, 42, was sentenced in federal court in Erie by U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter, who called the Porter’s actions “horrific” before imposing sentence. The sentence was reported by U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady.
Porter pleaded guilty in July to charges that he had recorded himself sexually abusing a 3-year-old girl, and took surreptitious, sexually explicit video of a 15-year-old girl.
According to the criminal complaint, the incidents first came to light when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia were investigating a user of a Kik Messenger account. The user they were investigating had received child pornography from a user whose screen name was “usemywife814pa.” The RCMP alerted the Department of Homeland Security Investigations in Pittsburgh.
The account was traced back to Porter, the complaint alleged.
The Canadian investigation showed that Porter had sent three files and received 55 files in Kik Messenger groups involving child pornography, the complaint stated. The complaint described three photos, taken at Porter’s home, one of which was sexually explicit.
The Homeland Security investigators served a search warrant on Nov. 7, 2018, on Porter’s home, and interviewed Porter’s wife. She was shown the photos and identified the child and her husband from the images shown to her, the complaint stated. She was also able to identify that the images had been taken at their residence.
The investigators went to Porter’s workplace and interviewed him. He denied producing, receiving or sending any child pornography, the complaint stated. When he was shown the image of him sexually abusing the child, he asked, “Should I get an attorney?” the complaint alleged. Porter also asked investigators if they showed the images to his wife, according to the complaint.
Porter drove himself to the Ridgway-based state police barracks for further questioning. He admitted he took the photos and posted them to Kik Messenger, the complaint stated.
There was no additional information in the criminal complaint as to the allegations of videotaping a female teen.
Porter’s case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian A. Trabold prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Brady commended the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Ridgway Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution.
