Church volunteer pleads guilty to secretly taking photos
A former volunteer associate pastor at a Granbury church and chaplain at a nursing home pleaded guilty Monday to secretly taking photos of people undressing at several locations and to possessing child pornography.
Hidden cameras were found at a nursing home, his home and his former church, all in Granbury, authorities said.
Photos were taken during weddings, baptismal events and on a Colorado ski trip, authorities said.
Matthew Porter, 34, of Granbury, entered his plea on eight counts of improper photography or visual recording and seven counts of possession of child pornography.
Jury selection in his trial had been scheduled to start Monday.
“We had at least 10 victims ready to testify,” said Hood County District Attorney Rob Christian.
Judge Ralph Walton will decide Porter’s punishment after hearing testimony today in a Granbury courtroom.
Porter faces up to 10 years in prison on each count of the child pornography charges and two years each on the improper photography charges.
He had been free on bail but was taken into custody Monday morning after he entered his plea.
Porter was arrested a year ago this month after a camera was found hidden in a bathroom of Harbor Lakes Plaza Nursing and Rehabilitation. He was identified as a suspect after he was seen in one photo trying to adjust the camera, police said. Porter worked as a chaplain at the nursing home.
Authorities later found a hidden camera at the home he shared with his parents.
Porter was a volunteer associate pastor at The Church at Granbury, and he volunteered at Gateway Community Church in Granbury.
He is no longer associated with Granbury nursing homes or churches, his attorney has said.
Porter had been living in the Granbury area since 2008. Granbury police began their investigation in October 2010 after a nursing home employee found the hidden camera in the bathroom.
This is the second time in four years that Porter has been accused of improper photography.
In Florida, Porter was working as a youth minister when he was accused of videotaping students as they changed clothes at his home. He pleaded no contest to nine counts of misdemeanor voyeurism. He faced up to nine years in prison but was sentenced to 120 days in the Manatee County Jail to be followed by one year of probation after a number of people spoke on his behalf.
Florida criminal court records indicated that Porter got letters of support from family members and friends in Texas.
One came from the Rev. C.C. Risenhoover of The Church at Granbury. In a letter dated Aug. 8, 2008, Risenhoover, then senior pastor at Gateway Community Church in Granbury, stated Porter “will not only have our counsel and support, but also that of loving parents.”
Porter’s father and grandfather were longtime residents of Hood County, according to the letters.
Porter graduated from Howard Payne University in 2000, and he was hired as a youth leader at First Baptist Church in Lipan. He left the Lipan church in 2004 and moved to Bradenton, Fla.
This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
Domingo Ramirez Jr.
817-390-7763
Twitter: @stcrime
By on 01/02/2012