Suspect in San Jose teen kidnapping and sexual assault identified as registered sex offender
By Carlos E. Castañeda
The suspect in the kidnapping and sexual assault of a teenage girl in downtown San Jose was identified as a registered sex offender, police announced on Friday.
The incident began at about 10:40 a.m. in the area of South 3rd Street and East San Fernando Street. San Jose police said the 15-year-old was walking to school when she was approached by an unknown man who offered her drugs. The teenager kept walking, and the man then forced her into his vehicle, police said.
The man drove her about a mile east to the area of 17th Street and East Santa Clara Street, where the teenager reported that she was sexually assaulted. Police said the man then dropped her off near her school, where she reported the incident.
Using surveillance camera networks and automated license plate readers, police said they were able to identify a possible suspect vehicle and its general location. Investigators identified the registered owner of the vehicle, who matched the suspect description provided by the teen survivor.
Officers located the vehicle near the suspect’s home in South San Jose with the help of the department’s helicopter, and they were able to arrest him without incident, police said. He was identified as 51-year-old San Jose resident Marlo Porter, also known as Mario Porter and Marco Porter.
Porter is a registered sex offender who was convicted in 2006 of lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14 years of age, as well as annoying or molesting a child under 18 years of age, according to the California Department of Justice. He was released in 2013. Porter was also convicted of indecent exposure in 2018.
The California DOJ’s Megan’s Law website showed that Porter had an above-average risk of re-offending based on a 2024 risk assessment.
“What happened to this child is every kid’s and every parent’s worst nightmare,” said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan in a prepared statement. “This isn’t the first time this suspect has harmed a child, but I will do everything in my power to make sure it’s the last. We need our judges and criminal justice system to make sure people are rehabilitated before they are released back into the community – or else kept in custody where they can’t harm anyone again.”
Porter was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for kidnapping and sexual assault of a juvenile.
“This investigation moved quickly because our officers and analysts worked together in real time,” said Police Chief Paul Joseph in a prepared statement. “By combining technology with dedicated police work, we were able to identify and arrest this suspect within hours rather than days.”
Detectives believe there may be more survivors because of Porter’s prior sexual assault history, police said. Anyone with information about the case incident or similar incidents was asked to contact Detective Davis #4686 of the department’s sexual assault unit at 4686@sanjoseca.gov or 408-277-4102.
