'Dirty dancer' Van Porter sentenced to 18 months behind bars
Author: Keith Fraser, Vancouver Province
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A former tap dance instructor who was convicted of sex offences against three of his young female students has been sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Art Van Porter, 46, who committed the offences while he was an instructor at the Vancouver Tap Dance Society on Hastings Street between 2002 and 2005, also got three years probation.

In accepting the sentencing recommendation of Crown counsel Allan Mandell, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Allan Stewart said he gave an expert report finding Porter a very low risk to re-offend "no weight."

The judge noted that Porter had committed offences against one of the girls while he was on bail awaiting trial for offences against the other two girls. He said that the forensic psychiatrist who prepared the report did not grasp the significance of the bail violation.

"It does undermine the weight given to the opinion as to the risk that the offender will reoffend and it undermines it totally."

Porter's lawyer, Art Vertlieb, had argued that a conditional sentence would be more appropriate than jail time, but the judge disagreed.

"Having considered the whole of it, I am not satisfied that serving a sentence in the community would not endanger the safety of the community...The offender will be imprisoned and by imprisoned I mean incarcerated, behind bars."

The terms of the probation include that he have no contact with his victims and that he surrender his passport. Porter is an American citizen and faces possible deportation proceedings after he serves his sentence.

As he was being led away by sheriffs, Porter waved at a group of supporters sitting behind him in court and said, "Love you, guys." Several female supporters wept.

In October Porter was convicted by Stewart of three counts of sexual assault and three counts of sexual exploitation by someone in a position of trust of a young person. The victims were between the ages of 12 and 16.

Porter massaged the girls' inner thighs, vaginas and breasts during stretching sessions in one-on-one lessons while he was an instructor.

He also hugged and kissed one or all of them, rubbed his groin against their buttocks during stretches and offered one teen $60 after asking her if she felt victimized following an assault.

In addition to being a tap dance instructor, Porter also danced with Riverdance and appeared briefly in the Hollywood movie Tap.

E-mail reporter Keith Fraser at kfraser@png.canwest.com
© Vancouver Province 2008

Van Porter leaves BC Supreme Court in August. Gerry Kahrmann file photo - The Province

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