Youth minister arrested for multiple abuse charges

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer

WINFIELD — Christopher Chase Porter, 38, of Guin, was arrested on Tuesday night, July 16, on multiple charges related to the sexual abuse of a minor.
Porter, who was a youth leader at Bethel Apostolic Church in Winfield at the time, was met with seven charges, which include first-degree rape, enticing a child to enter, three counts of sexual abuse of a minor less than 12 and two counts of sodomy in the first degree.
A spokesperson from the church said they had no reason to believe any of these alleged acts took place in the church building, but did not comment further.
According to the Winfield City Police Department, they received a call from an individual who reported the alleged crime as soon as it was brought to their attention.
Winfield Police went to work right away to go through the proper steps to make what could have been a dangerous search and arrest.
“After interviewing them, we had enough to have the warrants issued, and because they were felony warrants, Winfield’s SWAT team actually executed the search warrants, and he was arrested on County Highway 4 in Winfield at a traffic stop,” said criminal investigator Justin Cottingham. “They set up and waited for him, and they were able to identify him. The SWAT team took him into custody there.”
Porter was booked at the Marion County Jail and is currently being held on a $310,000 bond.
Cottingham said it appeared the alleged abuse had been going on for some time, but it was reported as soon as a child involved came forward.
Police could not go into more detail about the case since minors were involved.
If convicted of the multiple felony charges against him, Porter could be facing serious jail time.
First degree rape and sodomy are both Class A felonies under Alabama state law, and each could be punishable by life or anywhere between 10 and 99 years in prison.
Sexual abuse of a child less than 12 is a Class B felony, which could incur a prison sentence between two and 20 years.
His enticing a child to enter charge refers to Alabama Criminal Code Article 4, Section 13A-6-69, which criminalizes “enticing a child to enter vehicle, house, etc. for immoral purposes.”
Enticing a child…