Porter trial: Missing bank statements raised doubts for church bookkeeper

A church secretary and bookkeeper who testified Friday during a murder trial in Stanislaus County Superior Court said she became suspicious of former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter a few months after an elderly rancher made the Hickman Community Church the sole beneficiary of his estate.

Cathy Bergman said she was concerned because she was not receiving bank statements for a $150,000 fund Frank Craig set up to seed the Central Valley Museum of Agriculture on land adjacent to the church.

She said Porter dismissed her inquiries, suggesting the statements may have gone to Craig's home instead of a church post office box. When she got duplicates from Bank of the West, it was clear Porter had dipped into the accounts for personal reasons.

So she pressed for better answers.

"It was a very difficult thing to confront my pastor with what I believed he had done," the soft-spoken Bergman told the jury.

The office administrator and her husband, who was a member of the church's board of elders, confronted Porter and his wife, Vicki, as they sat around the Bergmans' kitchen table.

Bergman said Porter admitted misusing the money and taking the bank statements from the church post office box. The board of elders consulted with an attorney, then drafted a May 3, 2000, letter to Craig, blaming the $15,700 problem on a "clerical error."

Porter was to deliver the letter to Craig and cover the losses, Bergman said. The district attorney's office contends that Porter drew a check on a different account funded by Craig, stealing from Craig again as he repaid the foundation fund.

Porter had control over Craig's money because Craig dreamed of building a museum to showcase farm equipment he had collected over decades and had enlisted Porter's help to get the job done. Craig inherited the money from a brother, had no children and loved to collect antiques that others would have deemed junk.

According to authorities, Porter's misappropriation continued until he had drained $1.1 million from Craig's accounts.

The country preacher is suspected of staging two truck crashes to cover his actions: A March 5, 2002, wreck that crippled Craig and an April 22, 2004, wreck that killed Craig, 85.

He is charged with murder, attempted murder, theft or embezzlement of an elder adult by a caretaker and elder abuse causing death. If prosecutors prevail, Porter, 57, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. He has been held without bail since his arrest Nov. 27, 2006.

Bergman said she signed off on checks that paid the salaries of employees who worked on the museum project, including Porter, and reconciled bills for improvements to the church that were supposed to make the property more attractive to donors who might help make the museum a reality.

Craig had an estate worth more than $2 million and dreamed of an adobe brick museum to house a dozen old tractors and other artifacts, but the church wanted to raise more money for a $7 million meeting hall and museum that would have been accompanied by ball fields for youth sports.

In the end, the museum never came to more than a plan on paper.

Porter left the church a year before his arrest, turning pastoral duties over to his son, Aaron. Bergman said Aaron Porter fired her the day after she was interviewed by an investigator from the district attorney's office in April 2006.

"When I asked Aaron why he didn't want me there, he just said, 'I don't know,' " Bergman said.

Next to testify was an estate planner who helped Craig amend a revocable trust, pledging his assets to the church and naming Porter as the executor of his estate. Later, Craig expanded Porter's reach, giving him power over his investment accounts and health care decisions.

Attorney Mahlon Ford of Modesto said he urged Craig to reconsider the plan, because the church would have no obligation to build the museum after he died.

He said Craig would not be deterred.

"He said, 'I don't want to do it your way. I want to do it my way,' " Ford testified.

The trial, which is expected to stretch into late July or early August, resumes Monday.

Bee staff writer Susan Herendeen can be reached at sherendeen@modbee.com or 578-2338.