COLUMBUS — An Ohio man exchanged drugs for sexual access to children of drug-addicted parents and took sexually explicit photos of the girls to create child pornography, according to an indictment made public this week.
Larry Dean Porter repeatedly traded drugs for sex with three girls—one of them just 7 years old— with several other adults helping transport the victims to Porter’s house, according to the federal indictment and a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday.
Other individuals, including two of Porter’s adult daughters, are accused of trying to hide evidence. Nine people were charged in total.
Porter both raped the girls and filmed himself raping them, U.S. Attorney Dave DeVillers said Wednesday. Occasionally allegations come along that call into question “our confidence in humanity,” DeVillers said. “This is one of those cases.”
The abuse began in 2013 and continued until this year, DeViller said. The investigation is continuing and there are believed to be more victims.
Numerous sources in Scioto County in southern Ohio told the FBI that Porter “was involved in sexually abusing minors, and that such abuse was occurring with the consent of the minors’ parents who were receiving illegal controlled substances from Porter,” the complaint said.
One source told investigators Porter would use “the term ‘babysit’ to refer to the time he spent with children, during which he sexually abused them or took sexually explicit images of them,” according to the complaint. One victim was 7 years old, the indictment said.
Porter lured adults into his scheme by first selling them pain pills, then once they were addicted, providing them drugs in exchange for sex with the girls, DeVillers said.
Porter, 69, is also accused of trading drugs for sex with adult female drug addicts, and of possessing several guns he used to threaten both those women and the girls from revealing his abuse, the indictment said.
The individuals charged in the case “not only turned their backs on these children, these victims, but actively attempted to cover up their abuse,” said Chris Hoffman, FBI special agent in charge for the Southern District of Ohio.
Porter’s court-appointed public defender declined comment.
Crystal Porter, Porter’s oldest daughter, and Denna Porter, his youngest daughter, are accused of taking items like digital storage devices to keep investigators from finding them. A message was left with Crystal Porter’s attorney. A lawyer representing Denna Porter declined comment.
