Former police deputy chief, school resource officer convicted of child rape

Editor’s note: This story mentions rape and sexual assault.

Former Hopkinton Deputy Chief of Police, John “Jay” Porter, was convicted Friday on three charges of rape of a child, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.

Porter, of Hopedale, assaulted a 15-year-old student between 2004 and 2005 while he served as a school resource officer for the Hopkinton school system.

The student often sought support from Porter when she was in the ninth and 10th grades. The relationship changed when she was in the 10th grade, “going from a trusted adult and student to a flirtatious, then sexual one,” Ryan said in a statement.

The rapes occurred off school property.

On one occasion, Porter volunteered to drive the student home when she was excused early from school. On the way, he stopped at the police station and exchanged his police vehicle for his personal one. Before arriving at the student’s home, he stopped the car and began kissing the student and touching her all over her body, according to Ryan’s statement.

In another instance later that same year, Porter drove the student home after she babysat at his Hopedale home. He stopped to discuss their relationship and assaulted her again, according to the statement.

“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,” Ryan said in the statement.

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

If you are a victim of sexual assault, you are not alone.

Rape Crisis Centers in Massachusetts offer free, confidential services for adolescent and adult survivors as well as their loved ones.

Crisis centers operate a 24/7 toll-free hotline for phone counseling, questions and referrals. For a full list of regional crisis centers, click here.