Feds: Ohio Molester Paid Drug-Addict Moms for Their Kids

Federal authorities have brought charges against a 69-year-old Ohio man who is accused of paying drug-addicted mothers in pills and cash to let him molest their children—and then using his own daughters to cover up the crimes.

Eight of Larry Dean Porter’s relatives and associates have also been arrested in connection with the depraved, decades-long scheme in which youngsters were treated as currency and abused over and over and over, prosecutors said.

The complaint against Porter unsealed on Tuesday lays out in horrifying detail how he allegedly sexually assaulted minors during what he called “babysitting.”

One of the feds’ sources told investigators they had “observed children who were believed to have been previously abused by Porter grow up and take their own children to Porter in exchange for drugs and money,” an FBI affidavit said. Porter sometimes enlisted the mothers to take part in the abuse, which he would film, according to the affidavit.

Among those charged are Charity and Ronnie Rawlins, who allegedly took a 7-year-old child to Porter’s home several times a week for five years in return for pills.

The court papers also reveal that Scioto County authorities were warned in 2009 that Porter was a pedophile when two of his alleged victims—a girl and a boy—told protective services that they had been repeatedly abused. The two of them later recanted their allegations, according to county officials.

The FBI affidavit including horrifying testimony from the victims and damning Facebook messages from Porter in which he allegedly talked about how much money he would pay for time with grade-schoolers.

“They good and horny?” he allegedly wrote in one message in April 2019 to the mother of two girls.

Investigators used a sting operation to amass more evidence against Porter, enlisting an informant to dangle the promise of a young girl in front of him.

“She’s 7, mom’s looking to sell her for smack basically and I was hoping you could help,” the informant wrote to Porter.

“Wats that stuff go for,” he replied, then made his own offer. “40.”

Even though Porter knew he was already under law-enforcement scrutiny, he arranged a rendezvous with the woman and the fictitious child in March and was caught with $80—the amount he had agreed to pay for one night with the girl, the affidavit said.

Porter was initially arrested on local charges in March but now faces federal charges that include sex trafficking, child pornography, obstruction, and witness-tampering.

After his arrest, the feds learned that two of his adult daughters, Crystal and Denna, had been seen digging on his property. When officers dug up that spot they found a glass jar that contained images of a woman performing oral sex on one of the child victims in the case.

The complaint also included messages from Porter to a third adult daughter, Barbarajoe, after he sent her a photo of one of the victims.

“I told u not to talk to me about that shit u realize ur grand daughter is probably the same age,” the daughter responded.

Her father typed back: “lol, but she not my granddauther. I couldn’t b with my own family.”

The daughter’s response? “I know but she’s young dad shit there’s still good looking ones that’s over 18.”

Porter’s federal counsel declined to comment.

Also charged are Frank Andrews, who allegedly was caught with videos of the sex abuse; David Cole, who allegedly talked about the victims with Porter on Facebook messages; Larry Porter’s cousin, Erroll Wayne Porter Sr., who allegedly talked about killing an informant in a jailhouse call; and Joshua Aldridge, who allegedly transported girls to Porter’s home in return for drugs. Several other woman also face local charges.