New Charges Leveled Against Porner-Turned-Fundie Donny Pauling

SUTTER COUNTY, Calif.—It's almost time for the next Morality in Media National Center on Sexual Exploitation's Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Summit, and it's looking even less likely that ex-porn photographer turned anti-porn activist Donny Pauling will be one of the featured speakers. Pauling, who's already facing two indictments—one containing three felony counts for Lewd Act on a Child, Oral Copulation and Unlawful Intercourse and the other with four more counts of unlawful sex with a minor—has just been hit with a third, this time charging not only that he sexually assaulted an underage girl at least once within the first 33 days of 2014, but also that he gave her marijuana. Pauling's stalking ground has reportedly been Chico, in Butte County, where he shot XXX material in a studio at 146 W. 2nd Street about a decade ago, and Yuba City in Sutter County, where he was originally busted, as well as Shasta County. All in all, Pauling is so far facing 15 felonies and three misdemeanors, including several counts of statutory rape and others described as "alleged sexual relations with three teenage girls." Pauling is scheduled to appear in Sutter County Superior Court tomorrow regarding the new charges. "We adamantly deny the allegations," said Pauling's Roberto Marquez. "Once we get to cross-examine the witnesses, they'll be proven false." Meanwhile, the former Sutter County Jail Commander Lewis McElfresh, whom Pauling had accused of masturbating while watching Pauling molest an underage girl, still has not been arraigned even though it is now more than three months after his arrest. Why? Because McElfresh's attorney, Jesse Santana, wants the entire Sutter County District Attorney's office disqualified from handling the case, and while pressing that issue, Santana has refused to allow mcElfresh to enter a plea. "Case law says if you enter a plea, you're saying you're OK with that prosecutor," Santana told the Appeal-Democrat. "I don't want them to even think that." Santana said that the DA's office "is not exercising its discretionary function in an even-handed manner," claiming that the prosecutors have refused to file criminal charges against their lead witness, Chase Hammonds, who was allegedly caught burglarizing McElfresh's home on December 18. It's unclear what Hammonds' connection is to the case, but the Appeal-Democrat reported that Hammonds "confronted McElfresh about the incident, recorded the conversation and provided the recording to a Sutter County sheriff's lieutenant." A hearing on the prosecutors' disqualification is scheduled for tomorrow.