Museum never to be built, witnesses testify in Porter trial

Porter lied about pouring foundation, neighbor says

By MERRILL BALASSONE
mbalassone@modbee.com

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After driving a pickup in a crash that crippled 85-year-old Frank Craig, pastor Howard "Doug" Porter told a friend the elderly rancher's dream of an agricultural museum would not come to fruition.

Tony Silveira, a neighbor of Craig's and then-member of the Hickman Community Church, testified Friday that Porter told him "there wasn't going to be a museum built" because there was too much competition from another area museum.

But Craig kept up hope, ignoring warnings from friends who told him there was no progress on the project. Neighbor John Veldhuizen told jurors in Porter's murder trial that he visited the museum site about five times at Craig's request.

AT A GLANCE
- WHAT: The murder trial of Howard "Doug" Porter, 57, of La Grange
- THE ALLEGATIONS: Porter, pastor of Hickman Community Church for nearly two decades, is accused of embezzling $1.1 million from rancher Frank Craig, then staging two crashes to cover his tracks. Craig was crippled in a 2002 wreck and he drowned in a 2004 wreck. Craig, who was 85 when he died, gave the preacher control of his finances because he thought Porter would help him build an agricultural museum to showcase farm equipment Craig collected over decades.
- FRIDAY'S ACTION: The jury heard from former church member Tony Silveira, who said Porter told him Craig's agricultural museum would not be built because it faced too much competition.
- WHAT'S NEXT: The trial resumes Monday.
Past coverage: The Doug Porter case

Craig said Porter told him the museum's foundation was being poured, Veldhuizen testified.

"Each time I came back and told him nothing was happening at the museum site," Veldhuizen said. "Each time (Craig) changed the subject."

Porter is accused of embezzling $1.1 million Craig wanted to use to build an agricultural museum, then staging two truck accidents, in 2002 and 2004, to cover his tracks. The second wreck proved fatal. Craig drowned after his truck, driven by Porter, landed in the Ceres Main Canal.

Craig and Porter, who no longer is the pastor of the Hickman church, struck up a business relationship in 1999, when Craig inherited $2 million from a brother and believed an agricultural museum he had dreamed of for years could become a reality. He made the church his beneficiary and the preacher the executor of his estate.

Silveira's testimony came Friday afternoon in Stanislaus County Superior Court, when he recounted his short conversation with Porter while the two men were stopped on the road in their pickup trucks.

Silveira could not remember which museum Porter said posed a threat to Craig's.

Friday morning, Ceres schoolteacher Michelle Pittman con-tinued her testimony, saying she and her husband were so alarmed at the care of their el- derly friend after the first crash that they feared he could be a victim of foul play by Porter.

Porter got $450K from sale

Pittman said Craig had a recurring fear that his house, which was uninsured, could catch fire. Defense attorney Kirk McAllister referred to a statement Pittman made that she and her husband worried that "Doug might burn the place down with Frank in it." Pittman admitted on cross-examination that her worry did not cause her to contact police.

"There was nothing they could do," she said.

Pittman said she offered to stay overnight with Craig in his house or let him move in with her. At the time, Craig did not have a full-time caretaker.

Pittman said she began making daily trips to care for Craig because she was not convinced Porter, who had control over Craig's finances and health care decisions, was getting the job done.

A day after Craig returned from a rehabilitation hospital, Pittman said she found Craig laying in a lounge chair, his legs blistered with sunburn from being left outside the previous day.

About a month before Craig died in April 2004, Pittman said Craig began talking about willing his 20-acre ranch to the Pittmans.

"He wanted my husband and I to have the ranch," Pittman said. "He was starting to talk about making some changes about the museum and the involvement of Mr. Porter and about the ranch."

After Craig's death, Porter tore down Craig's home and barns on Riverview Road, cleared the land and sold the property to a neighboring nursery, pocketing $450,000.

Porter, 57, of La Grange, has pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder, embezzlement from an elder by a caretaker and elder abuse causing death. He has been held without bail since his arrest Nov. 27, 2006, and faces life in prison if convicted. The trial continues Monday.

Bee staff writer Merrill Balassone can be reached at mbalassone@modbee.com or 578-2337.