By John Pacenti
Scott Porten — a strong defender of the former nonprofit that ran Old School Square Center for the Arts — is facing 12 counts of child pornography after Dropbox reported his computer to the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, according to a police report.
The 63-year-old real estate developer from coastal Delray Beach was arrested Thursday night on 11 counts of possessing child pornography and one count of “obscene communication” involving transmitting child pornography, according to an affidavit by Delray Beach Police Detective Michael Liberta.
The national center forwarded the tip to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, according to Delray Beach police spokesman Ted White. The Broward Sheriff's Office forwarded the information to Delray Beach police, which began its investigation Nov. 28, the affidavit said.
The original tip came from Dropbox, a popular cloud-based storage service for electronic files.
A Dropbox user with the screen name “Scott Porten” allegedly uploaded seven photos that depicted sexual abuse of children or unclothed children. Dropbox also reported emails associated with Porten with the account, including his business, Porten Companies.
A search warrant for the Dropbox account discovered the seven images. In addition, four other images apparently from the same series were located, as well as 500 images of AI-generated images of nude prepubescent children, Liberta said.
There were also 26 images advertising child pornography websites, 63 thumbnail images advertising child pornography, and two videos of anime that depicted the sexual performance of a child, according to the report.
Court records show Porten, who is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail, is being represented for the time being by the Public Defender’s Office. His first appearance before a judge is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 13, at 9 a.m.
A Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office “face sheet” says Porten was arrested at 1000 James L Turner Blvd. in West Palm Beach. However, no such address exists. However, Palm Beach International Airport has a similar address: 1000 James L. Turnage Blvd.
SCOTT PORTEN
Porten has a long track record of civic involvement in Delray Beach. He was profiled by The Coastal Star in 2012 after he assumed leadership of the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce’s governmental affairs committee and was chair of the Old School Square nonprofit group.
Later, he was part of the pushback when the city demanded financial records from the nonprofit Old School Square Center for the Arts, which ran the Cornell Art Museum, the Crest Theater, the Fieldhouse and the outdoor Pavilion.
The long-term lease for the organization was terminated in August 2021.
“You decided without notice and took the nuclear option,” he told the commission at the time.
The city’s fight with the non-profit polarized the residents and split political factions.
Today, the city shares running Old School Square with the Downtown Development Authority.
In the “Meet Your Neighbor” feature from 2012, Porten said, "Now that I am raising my children in Delray Beach, I realize the important role that the arts played in my development. This observation has been my focus in recent years and is the reason behind my involvement at Old School Square Cultural Arts Center.”
The story showed a photo of Porten with his wife and two children.
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