Protective Order Against Man Facing Sex Charges Denied By Judge
A judge deniesa request for a protective order against man accused of soliciting sex from Bethesda girl in the days following his arrest, The Gazette reports.
A judge has denied a request for a protective order against a Falls Church man accused of soliciting sex from a 12-year-old Bethesda girl, The Gazette reports.
Nathan Samuel Portnoy, 23, of the 2100 block of Emilys Lane in Falls Church, VA, has been charged with first degree assault, kidnapping of a child under 16, and sexual solicitation of a minor in the Aug. 24 incident.
Police and prosecutors say Portnoy met the girl online, asked her to have sex, and then pointed a gun at her sister and sister’s boyfriend near her home on Loch Lomond Drive. Police said they later found a loaded handgun, ammunition, gun holsters, handcuffs, zip ties, rope, a black ski mask, and several boxes of condoms in Portnoy’s truck.
Lawyers for Portnoy, a National Guardsman and an Iraq war veteran, have said the charges against him are “completely unfounded.”
In the days following his arrest, according to The Gazette, the mother of the 12-year-old girl requested a protective order against Portnoy that was denied by a Montgomery County judge.
The protective order mirrored the charges brought against Portnoy, The Gazette reported. In denying the request, Montgomery County Circuit Judge Paul A. McGuckian ruled there was “no basis” for the order.
A lawyer for Portnoy told The Gazette that the ruling “seems supportive” of the defense’s position that the charges are baseless. A Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office spokesman, however, said decisions pertaining to peace orders don’t necessarily factor into criminal proceedings.
“In cases where protective orders are denied it does not necessary mean that the series of events described therein are not truthful,” Ramon Korionoff, the spokesman, told The Gazette. “The events described therein can still have merit and can still be proven in a future criminal court proceeding.”
Read the full story at The Gazette.
Portnoy was hailed as a hero after trying to save a Falls Church teen who was electrocuted during the June 29 derecho, McLean Patch reported. He spoke with McLean Patch in January about his military experiences.
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