WARNING: This article contains graphic details, and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone impacted by it.
A former Edmonton track coach has been found guilty of historical sexual offences against three teenage boys he mentored and trained in the 1970s.
In a decision Tuesday, a judge found that Thomas Kenneth Porter, known as Ken Porter, sexually touched the teens for his own gratification under the guise of athletic massages.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Nicholas Devlin also found that Porter, now 76, sexually touched two of the teenagers in separate incidents at his apartment.
One of those involved a time where he invited boys over for dinner, then showed them pornography in what the judge determined was an effort to groom them. Porter then offered them “rubdowns” — his term for the track-side massages he gave young athletes.
The former coach watched the decision remotely from his lawyer’s office in Ottawa. He remains on bail pending his sentence, which will be set at a later date.
The complainants, who were 15 to 17 years old when they trained with Porter, testified that his massages progressed from rubbing their legs to moving up their bodies and touching their buttocks, genitals and anus.
Porter’s conduct “constituted an exploitation or perversion of contact by a trusted adult,” Devlin said.
“It caused discomfort, confusion and even revulsion among the victims.”
Devlin concluded that Porter is guilty of two counts of indecent assault and three counts of gross indecency — charges under the Criminal Code at the time of the allegations, from 1976 to 1980. Devlin found Porter not guilty on the five other charges he faced, including each of the charges laid in relation to one of the complainants.
Porter initially faced more than a dozen charges related to five men who were his former trainees. The counts related to one of them were later withdrawn.
Each of the men’s identities is protected by a publication ban, except for Chris Dallin, who asked the court to lift the ban on his name. He was the first to report his experiences with Porter to police in 2007.
Almost 20 years later — and close to 50 years after he first started training with Porter as a 14-year-old boy — Dallin said Tuesday that he wanted to make sure Porter could never be in a situation where he was close to boys or young men again.
He said it’s also important to him to tell his own story.
“I no longer have any shame about this,” he said.
“I want people to understand that it’s OK to kind of go through this.”
Inappropriate contact during massages
One of the men who testified described a dinner party he attended with some other teenage athletes, while Porter was the only adult. The coach served pecan pie and passed around pornographic magazines he said he got in Europe.
In Devlin’s decision, he said Porter acknowledged those events, but the former coach said he now views it as wrong to show the teens the pornography.
Devlin found Porter guilty of gross indecency and indecent assault for a massage that the complainant described happening after dinner, where Porter had him change into a yellow thong, then massaged his legs and buttocks and touched his anus.
Devlin also determined that Porter sexually touched another teenager who testified that at first, he felt excited by Porter’s physical attention, as a young person in the process of discovering his sexuality.
But the man told the court that after one massage where Porter touched his genitals, he felt repulsed, and had a physical reaction. Later in life, he struggled with drug and alcohol dependency.
The criminal case came after reports of sexual misconduct prompted Athletics Canada to commission former Ontario ombudsman André Marin in 2019 for an independent investigation.
When Marin’s report was finished, Porter was fired as chair of the Ottawa Lions track and field club and issued a lifetime ban by Athletics Canada.
Devlin’s decision says that investigation triggered extensive communication between the complainants in the criminal case, who knew each other from their time as young athletes.
“Astonishingly, Mr. Marin encouraged them to reach out to each other,” Devlin said.
That, in addition to other exposure to each other’s stories, led to questions during the trial about how they may have influenced each other’s memories.
Devlin said that was an issue that led to the not guilty decision on all three charges related to a third complainant. While he credited that man for being open and honest in his testimony, Devlin said he couldn’t be sure the memories came from sources “other than true recall,” adding up to reasonable doubt.
Coach was ‘infatuated’ with teenage boy, judge finds
The judge also acquitted Porter of two charges from an incident where Dallin alleged the coach sexually assaulted him in a Saskatoon hotel room.
Dallin testified he was 15 at the time, and among a group of athletes travelling with Porter for a track meet. He said he was supposed to room with another teen, but Porter told him that he’d be staying with him instead.
During the night, Dallin described having a nightmare that Porter was performing oral sex on him, then woke up to find it was actually happening.
But inconsistencies in some of the evidence presented during the trial and Dallin’s recollection ended with the judge saying he wasn’t certain enough for a conviction.
“Given I am sure Mr. Porter sexually touched [Dallin] for his gratification … I find it likely he did make an unwanted sexual advance. It probably happened much the way [Dallin] described,” Devlin said.
“I do not disbelieve [Dallin]. But I cannot be sure it happened when, where and how it was described.”
But when it came to Porter’s explanation of reported sexual contact with Dallin during massages, the judge said the former coach’s “shifting, self-serving, almost desperate evidence … leaves Mr. Porter bereft of credibility.”
Devlin found that the coach was “infatuated” with the teenage Dallin.
“His massages sometimes caused erections and it happened frequently enough he had thought about how to deal with it,” Devlin said.
“His evidence demonstrates Mr. Porter was not concerned at all with sexually arousing the teenage boys he was laying hands on.”
Dallin said he was disappointed Porter was found not guilty in the hotel incident. But he’s pleased how everyone involved in the case took it seriously.
“I’ve been through counselling and I’ve kind of come out the other end, and I’m feeling pretty good about my life right now,” he said in an interview.
“But boy, there was sure a lot of time as a young man that I was very, very mixed up and had a lot of problems associated with what happened to me as a result of that trauma.”
Dallin said he wants others to know it’s OK to talk about experiences like his, even though they might feel embarrassed or uncertain.
“Kids, young people need a few people out there who show the way, say, ‘This guy’s OK, and he went through something traumatic as well, and he seems perfectly willing to talk about it, even though it’s difficult.”
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database.
