Former Porn Basher Donny Pauling Sentenced On Sex Abuse

SUTTER COUNTY, Calif.—For those who haven't heard, this Saturday, the Utah Coalition Against Pornography (UCAP) will be holding an anti-porn conference in Salt Lake City (you know: the capital of the state with the nation's highest per capita online sex site subscriptions). Among the seminar topics at the one-day conference are "How Do I Say It? Talking to Kids and Teens About Pornography"; "Pornography: Its Harm to Children and What We Can Do About It"; "Seven Practical Ways You Can Help Others Recover from Pornography Addiction"; "How Pornography is Changing an Entire Generation"; and "Simple Things You Can Do to Protect High Standards in Your Community." Although the conference is being promoted by Morality in Media National Center on Sexual Exploitation, none of the speakers ring any bells as major anti-porn advocates ... but if you're in the area, why not stop in? It'll only cost 20 buckaroos. It's taking place at the Salt Palace Convention Center, 100 West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84101. One person who won't be in attendance at the conference, though, is Donny Pauling, the former religious anti-porn darling who pled "no contest" late last year to sexually molesting three underage girls. Apparently, we missed the announcement of his sentencing last November, but according to the Appeal-Democrat's story, after "a long and emotional hearing," Pauling was sentenced to six years in state prison, and upon his release, he'll have to register as a sex offender for life—and all of his victims and their families said the sentence was too short. But hey: couldn't happen to a nicer guy. As of last April, Pauling was facing three indictments: one containing three felony counts for Lewd Act on a Child, Oral Copulation and Unlawful Intercourse; another with four more counts of unlawful sex with a minor; and a third, charging not only that he sexually assaulted an underage girl at least once within the first 33 days of 2014, but also that he gave her marijuana. In one of those liaisons, he was aided by  Sutter County Sheriff's Capt. Lewis McElfresh, who's also under indictment on similar charges. At the sentencing, it's safe to say that no one had anything good to say about the porn photographer turned anti-porn zealot. A letter read by the mother of one of his victims stated that her daughter "has been in and out of the hospital with intense stomach pains, which doctors say is stress-related," and that "[s]ome days, the girl cries and screams all day." One of Pauling's victims was in court to speak for herself. "I've been called many things in my life," the girl said. "Yet, the most imprinting titles I was given were a liar and the victim. ... This past year I've been interrogated, I've been the gossip, I've been moved from foster home to foster home, I've been rejected and abandoned. Yet, when this all began, I never felt like a victim. It wasn't until his statement that he made accusing me of being a liar, the comments made about me on Facebook, news articles and as I walked by. That's when it all sunk in." For Pauling's part, he claimed at the hearing that he hadn't received a fair hearing, and that newspaper articles had printed inaccurate information. He also alleged that "a district attorney's investigator was having an affair with a witness, and he was denied a fair bail amount, which he said kept him from hiring his own investigator." Pauling also said, by way of "explanation," that, "There is no excuse for what happened. I fell in love with [a girl] who's 16 years old. There is something wrong when a 40-year-old falls in love with a 16-year-old. I'm too close to figure out what is wrong." The sentencing magistrate,  Sutter County Superior Court Judge Susan Green, wasn't buying his bullshit. "I don't think I've seen anyone as manipulative as you," she said, adding that if someone loves a 16-year-old, they don't have sex with her, they don't molest her, they don't smoke marijuana with her, and they don't take photos of her and post them on the Internet. "If it was in my control, I'd order you to have no contact with any girl under the age of 18 for the rest of your life," Green said. Pauling will have to serve at least half of his six-year sentence, which should leave him singing those "Folsom Prison Blues."