On June 21, 2022, Henry Lee Porter Sr., the former bishop of a Sarasota evangelical church, Westcoast Center for Human Development, began his week-long trial after he was arrested in 2020 for sexually abusing multiple children from as far back as 1989. According to media reports, after a 3-hour deliberation in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court on June 24, the jury found Henry Lee…
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SARASOTA SEXUAL ABUSE
Sarasota Police Fear Dozens More Victims Were Sexually Abused by Bishop Henry Lee Porter
On Wednesday, January 8, 2020, Sarasota Police held a press conference on the arrest of the former bishop and founder of the Westcoast Center for Human Development, Henry Lee Porter, alerting the public that several victims came forward with allegations of being sexually abused by the minister. Authorities including the FBI said there are potentially dozens more victims. Porter was arrested in…
Former Sarasota Bishop Henry Lee Porter Arrested on Sexually Abusing Children Decades Ago
On Thursday, January 2, 2020, Sarasota Police arrested former bishop, Henry Lee Porter after multiple investigations “demonstrated more than four decades of children and adults suffering sexual abuse by Henry Lee Porter Sr..” Porter, 72, was arrested for one count of alleged sexual battery of a child under 12 years old, a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in…