Sutter County Superior Court
At his arraignment in Sutter County Superior Court, Wednesday, anti-porn crusader Donny Pauling pleaded not guilty to three felony charges relating to sex with a minor, including Statutory Rape.
Pauling was arraigned via video link from the Sutter County Jail. He is due back in the Yuba City, Calif. courthouse December 10 for a preliminary pre-trial conference.
Pauling, who is represented by a public defender, is also scheduled to return to court again on December 12 for a preliminary hearing in the case.
Monica Vaughn of the Appeal-Democrat reports this morning:
Judge Susan E. Green set Pauling’s bail at $500,000. She also told him if he posts bail, he must surrender his passport…
When discussing an appropriate bail amount, Deputy District Attorney Anu Chopra said the alleged victim told law enforcement that Pauling has a tracking device on her cellphone, obsesses about her, threatened to harm her and himself, and has two firearms. She said Pauling threatened to kill himself if she told law enforcement, Chopra said.
Pauling, an author and motivational speaker who talks as an anti-porn activist about his former nine-year career in the pornography industry, said little during the hearing. He denied that he threatened to harm himself.
Pauling, 41, was charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a child 14 or 15 when the defendant was at least more than 10 years older than the alleged victim and unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. The crimes are alleged to have occurred between Oct. 1, 2012, and last month. A 16-year-old girl reported Sunday that Pauling had ongoing sexual contact with her for three years.
The girl said the crimes were committed in Sutter and Shasta counties.
A misdemeanor criminal complaint was filed in October 2012 against Pauling in Shasta County Superior Court for annoying or molesting a child under 18. The alleged crime occurred on Jan. 1, 2010.
That case was dismissed in June 2013, according to an official with the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office.
Pauling wrote about the case publicly around the time the charges were filed. He said a woman with whom he had gotten in a fight was responsible for the false accusations.
Pauling was arrested Monday by the Sutter County Sheriff on three sex crime charges: Lewd Act on a Child, Oral Copulation, and Unlawful Intercourse (Statutory Rape).
CBS Sacramento reports that deputies arrested him at his Yuba City home after the teenage girl, whom they indicate is a relative, came forward to police about the improper relationship, adding that Pauling had also posted photos of her online.
He had been held without bail prior to his arraignment.
Pauling has said that, when not speaking out against the adult business at paid gigs offered by fanatical groups such as Morality in Media, he does “internet marketing for car dealers”.
Here’s Donny Pauling with his good buddy Gail Dines:
Many thanks to Monica Vaughan, of the Appeal-Democrat
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“The alleged crime occurred on Jan. 1, 2010.” Assuming it’s the same girl in both cases, that would mean she was 11 or younger on that date. Let that sink in. For the record, I have always detested this guy — mostly for being a smug idiot who has grossly exaggerated his tiny role in the adult business, and mischaracterized a group of people I know well — but he is innocent until and unless proven guilty. If it turns out he did molest a girl between ages 10 and 16, I certainly will find nothing to laugh at in… Read more »
Where are they now? 🙂
None of this guy’s kiddie problems started until AFTER he became a raging fundamentalist asshole. Why is that?
His momma just posted on his facebook page that he’s preaching Jesus to the inmates at the county jail and that he doesn’t mind being in there because he can talk about Jesus. One thing is for certain: Stick a fork in his Christian media career, he’s done. Even if he is not guilty this is all over the internet and he will be a brand liability for anyone that hires him. That being said, if he’s not guilty and beats this charge against him it would be interesting if someone in the porn community stepped up to the plate… Read more »
The charges were all updated today, go look at his page at the sheriff’s office again. And I have another thought about all of this that I’ll leave right here: With all of the molesting that is in the church, generally speaking such incidents are not uncommon at all, is it such a wise idea for the porn industry to continue to welcome church groups — specifically, church groups and preachers that are fundamentalist (which have the highest rates of molesting) and anti-porn into business events and so forth? Does this not pose a risk? The risk of exposing yourself… Read more »
Thank you — we’ll be posting an update that covers the charges in detail.
Thanks! I’m a huge fan of your Shelley Lubben series and love keeping up with the fundamentalist traiwrecks. 🙂
[…] was arraigned and held on $500,000 bail after he pleaded not guilty on Thursday, Dec. 4, in Sutter County Superior […]