Judge Michael Pineault gives instructions to the jury as John Porter (right; back to camera) listens alongside his attorney, Leonardo Angiulo. PHOTO/MARY ELLEN GAMBON

Former Hopkinton Deputy Police Chief John “Jay” Porter was found guilty Friday afternoon on three counts of child rape following a three-day trial at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn.

Porter’s bail was revoked, and he was taken into custody. A sentencing hearing was set for June 18.

The jury took about two hours before returning with the guilty verdicts.

Porter was charged with having sexual and digital intercourse with a Hopkinton High School student when he was the school resource officer there two decades ago. He also was found guilty of having oral sex with her when driving her home from babysitting at his home. [Editor’s note: Information detailing the third charge has been corrected from the original version of this story.]

Porter did not testify in the trial. The defense called only one witness — Porter’s wife — before resting. She broke down in tears when the verdict was read, while her husband stood at the defense desk with his head down.

Charges detailed

Porter was convicted on three counts of rape of a child.

The first two charges were related to an incident that occurred on Sept. 13, 2004, when the accuser, then 15, said Porter was taking her home from school after she experienced a mental health crisis during the school day at Hopkinton High School. The school administration team that oversaw her Individual Education Plan (IEP), of which Porter was a member, agreed that he should drive her home.

In her testimony, the accuser said Porter pulled up to the police station and told her to wait up the road. He exchanged his police cruiser for his personal vehicle and changed into a red T-shirt and jeans. During the drive, he pulled into a nearby church parking lot. The accuser alleged that Porter kissed and fondled her before digitally penetrating her, the first charge. He then attempted to have sexual intercourse.

“I wasn’t wet enough,” the accuser said during her earlier testimony, which she said “frustrated” Porter. This was the second charge.

The third charge occurred in June 2004, when the accuser said Porter drove her home from a babysitting stint at his Hopedale home. On the ride home, the accuser said she put her arm around Porter, and he began to caress her. She performed oral sex on him, the third charge. The incident was disrupted when lights from another vehicle startled Porter, the accuser said.

During the case, another sexual encounter occurred on the accuser’s 18th birthday, when Porter took her to lunch to celebrate and then back to her college dorm. Because they were both adults at that time, no charges were filed in this instance.

Porter declines to testify

At the beginning of the court session Friday, Judge Michael Pineault asked Porter if he wanted to testify. He affirmed that he did not.

At the beginning of the trial and before the jury was instructed to begin deliberations, Pineault told jurors that it was Porter’s right not to testify, and that his decision should not impact their decision-making process, as a defendant is innocent until proven guilty.

The only witness the defense team called was Porter’s wife, Lori. She noted that their 30th wedding anniversary was next Tuesday.

She testified that Porter, at the time of the alleged incidents in 2004-05, owned a red GMC Journey. Her vehicle was a Nissan Quest that was “champagne or light gold in color.”

That vehicle description differed from what the accuser said during her testimony about the first sexual assault. She said he drove her in a purple van with bucket seats. Lori Porter said that in 2010 the family owned a minivan that was “eggplant” in color.

Lori Porter said that the couple arranged to have the accuser babysit their two children. She said it was the first time she had a babysitter other than a family member. The arrangement, she said, was to try to instill a sense of confidence in the teen by giving her a responsibility that the accuser described as an award for doing well with her student behavior plan.

Lori Porter added that she was “very clear” that she picked up the accuser at school and drove her home. Lori Porter said she was “100% positive” that she remained in the house the entire time the accuser was babysitting. She did household chores while the accuser played “tag and capture the flag” in the yard.

Lori Porter said the kids wanted to have a pizza party with their parents and the teen before she left, so she asked her husband to bring home pizza. They ate it on a beach blanket on the lawn before she drove the accuser home.

She said one of her children asked her later that day why the accuser “had boo-boos all over her arm.”

Said Lori Porter: “I didn’t know how to explain that to my children.”

On cross examination, Lori Porter was asked why she needed a babysitter if she was home the entire time.

“I only got a babysitter because we were trying to help [the accuser] with her confidence,” she said.

The judge allowed for a short break after this testimony. When court resumed, the defense rested its case.

Closing arguments differ

Defense attorney Maura Tansley painted the accuser as a troubled teen with “a complicated psychology” that manifested before Porter became the HHS school resource officer. She said that while her adjustment counselor described the girl as “very bright,” her IEP stated that she “also had social and emotional concerns.” She described the accuser as a “runner” who “engaged in self-harm.”

“She picked him,” Tansley said. “She demanded more of his time than other students, and she knew that.”

She added that an IEP team member with a doctoral degree assisted in the development of the plan, which included a previously described “point system” to see Porter as a reward for good behavior.

Said Tansley: “They were setting up Mr. Porter for disaster.”

She also said the case was “riddled with inconsistencies” between the accuser’s description of the sexual encounters given to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office in 2022 and the accuser’s testimony this week.

Tansley added that the accuser did not say anything about the alleged assaults until she was asked by HPD Sgt. Tim Brennan years later if she had had any sexual encounters with Porter.

In her closing statement, prosecutor Maren Schrader stressed repeatedly that the accuser was 15 years old. She displayed a picture of the accuser on television screens as she addressed the jury.

“The woman that you saw on the stand is not the little girl you see in this photo,” she said.

Since that time, she earned a nursing degree, became a mother of two, and works as a nurse in a Boston hospital pediatric unit. Schrader suggested that the patients “represented who she was at 14-16 years old.”

Schrader described the accuser’s decision being prompted by an instance when she was treating a 12-year-old girl who allegedly had been sexually assaulted.

Said Schrader: “At that point, she realized it’s not just about me.”

She said the accuser testified in open court about the extent of her emotional and psychological issues as a youth. She also said that she relied on Porter as a support system and constantly sought validation from him, stating in her testimony that she was “obsessed” with him to the point that she agreed to have sexual relations with Porter in the church parking lot when he asked her.

“Is that wrong?” Schrader asked. “Yes. But under the law, it doesn’t matter if you want to have intercourse with a 35-year old. What does she understand at 15 at a level that a 35-year-old would understand?”

Schrader said the manila folder with the accuser’s name in Porter’s office closet was a piece of evidence the jury should consider. It was discovered by current HPD Deputy Chief Scott van Raalten and given to Chief Joseph Bennett when the two assisted in cleaning out Porter’s office upon his retirement.

“There were no other children’s files,” she said.

As to the sexual encounters with the accuser, Schrader said, “He created those opportunities.”

“He knew it was wrong,” she stressed. “He told [the accuser] it was wrong, and he did it anyway.”

While there were some discrepancies between the prosecutors’ account of the circumstances and the accuser’s testimony, Schrader said they amounted to five lines of text in a 128-page document from three years ago that the accuser had not seen until she was on the stand.

“Isn’t that completely reasonable?” Schrader asked.

She said inconsistencies as to whether Porter or the accuser pulled down her pants or whether he allegedly “kissed or licked” her did not change the instances of alleged sexual assault the accuser described in great detail on the stand.

Schrader added that the two times when the accuser was allegedly sexually assaulted by Porter when she was a minor occurred in a vehicle.

“He can’t dispute being alone with her [then],” she said. “Why? Too many witnesses.”

Later in her argument, Schrader said that Porter could have left a note saying that he dropped off the accuser at home when he took the time to exchange vehicles at the police station and change into casual clothing.

She also said Porter told the accuser to delete any electronic communications with him, which is why they aren’t available.

Schrader also referred to police officers as being “brothers in arms.” She suggested that Bennett “lost what he thought were two good officers” as a result of the scandal — Porter and Brennan.

She added that the accuser had nothing to gain by coming forward now, suggesting that the defense may characterize this as her getting revenge upon Porter.

Jury decides quickly

Shortly before 1 p.m., Pineault gave his instructions to the jury. Proceedings broke from 1-2 p.m. for lunch. He told jurors that the verdict had to be unanimous, and he would not accept a verdict until the jury deliberated for at least one hour to ensure that they took the time to review evidence and discuss the case.

At 4 p.m. proceedings resumed. After reviewing the verdict, the judge asked the jury foreperson to read it. Porter was found guilty on all three counts.

At the announcement of the first charge, there was an audible gasp. After all of the charges were read, the judge said Porter’s bail was revoked, and he would be taken into custody.

Porter stood at the defense desk, his head slightly down, until he was escorted out of the courtroom by officers.

Lori Porter, who was seated, had her head in her hands and sobbed, her cries growing louder. Family members and friends who sat near her tried to comfort her and console each other as the defense attorneys approached her.

Porter will be sentenced at 2 p.m. on June 18 at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn.

The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office released a statement Friday night.

“The defendant in this case abused his position of power to take advantage of and manipulate a child to gain her trust before sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions,” District Attorney Marian Ryan said in the statement.

“During her ninth and 10th grades at Hopkinton High School, the victim would often go see the School Resource Officer, John Porter for support,” the statement read. “That relationship changed during 10th grade, going from one of a trusted adult and student to a flirtatious then sexual one.”

Bennett also released a statement after the verdict.

“The Hopkinton Police Department learned today that former employee John Porter was convicted by a jury in Middlesex Superior Court of three counts of Child Rape,” the statement read. “The Hopkinton Police Department cooperated fully with the Middlesex District Attorney’s investigation into this case, and we thank the District Attorney’s Office for their professionalism in handling this matter.”