How a KY juvenile justice guard kept his job despite domestic violence charges
A Kentucky juvenile justice guard charged in August with sexting a 14-year-old girl who had been in state custody also had a recent history of domestic violence charges that involved him slapping, punching, choking and threatening to slash a woman’s throat with a steak knife.
Despite the previous charges, Corrections Officer Travis Edward Porter, 42, kept his job at the all-girls Boyd Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Ashland, operated by the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice.
Porter also wasn’t sent to jail in either of the domestic violence cases. He received a “diversion” in one case and a “conditional discharge” in the other.
The Herald-Leader first reported Oct. 10 on Porter’s indictment on a felony charge for allegedly texting sexually lewd messages and photos of his genitals in May to a 14-year-old girl who had been held at, and who returned to, the juvenile detention center where he worked.
He was fired July 16 as Kentucky State Police investigated the sexting case.
A review of previous court records and documents in Porter’s state personnel file, which the Herald-Leader obtained through Kentucky’s Open Records Act, reveals the trouble Porter faced in the months ahead of the sexting case.
The Department of Juvenile Justice put Porter on paid leave Oct. 31, 2024, and told him he would be fired one day after he was arrested by the Boyd County Sheriff’s Department in the first domestic violence case. He was charged with fourth-degree assault and third-degree terroristic threatening in that case.
Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary Keith Jackson “was informed that Porter would be terminated, which was a decision he supported,” cabinet spokeswoman Morgan Hall told the Herald-Leader last week.
Porter’s victim — whom police said suffered a black eye, a busted lip and a reddened cheek — took out a protective order against him in Boyd District Court at the time of his arrest.
(That wasn’t his first protective order. A different woman took out a protective order against Porter in 2021, also in Boyd District Court, records show.)
Porter admitted to police that he shouldn’t have “laid hands” on the victim, according to the police report.
But Porter got to keep his job last fall.
Guard’s firing is reversed
In a Nov. 20, 2024, letter, Juvenile Justice Commissioner Randy White reversed his agency’s initial decision to fire Porter.
White told the guard to return to work at the girls’ detention center.
“After taking into consideration the statements made on your behalf by you at the pre-termination hearing held on Nov. 12, 2024, and upon further investigation, I have decided to rescind the Oct. 31, 2024 intent to dismiss letter issued to you,” White wrote to Porter.
“Please understand that if you are convicted, plea or are otherwise found guilty of criminal conduct that is associated with the charges, then the Department of Juvenile Justice reserves the right to potentially pursue disciplinary action against you in the future,” White wrote to Porter.
The Herald-Leader asked the Justice Cabinet earlier this month why Porter wasn’t fired for the domestic violence charges, even before the teen sexting case.
Jackson — who is White’s boss — replied: “I was advised in 2024 this person was being terminated, but that decision was reversed without my knowledge or consent. We’re still reviewing the circumstances of this person’s hiring and will get to the bottom of it. I will be taking steps to ensure nothing like this happens again.”
Using the Open Records Act, the Herald-Leader then requested all communications to or from Jackson concerning Travis Porter.
Last week, the Justice Cabinet said it had identified 25 responsive emails, but it refused to provide them. The cabinet cited attorney-client privilege, saying the justice secretary and other cabinet officials were consulting with the cabinet’s general counsel in those emails regarding “the situation involving Travis Porter.”
Although Porter returned to work at the juvenile detention center last fall, he was placed on “modified duties” that kept him from having direct contact with the girls in custody while the department monitored the progress of his criminal case, Hall said last week.
State officials said the situation could have been handled better.
“After an immediate review of the actions by the former employee and the department’s related policy, the policies and procedures regarding failure to report an arrest and other certain criminal activity will be updated, allowing the department to take more aggressive action going forward,” Hall said.
The department hired Porter in 2022. According to his job application, he previously worked with teen girls and boys as a youth support specialist at the nonprofit Ramey-Estep Homes, which provides behavioral health and recovery services.
Domestic violence case left open
Porter avoided a conviction, plea or any other decisive conclusion in the first domestic violence case.
Instead, Boyd County Attorney Curtis Dotson put the assault and terroristic threatening charges on indefinite hold. Dotson filed a “diversion” agreement on Feb. 5, 2025, ordering Porter to have no unlawful contact with the victim and proposing a review of the case in six months.
Asked by the Herald-Leader last week to explain his decision, Dotson would say only that he never closed the case.
“The objective — basically, it’s not closed out with us. It’s not closed out until there’s no new violations. This particular case, it’s a pending case,” Dotson said.
Keeping a case open isn’t the same as convicting someone for a violent crime and punishing them, Dotson acknowledged.
“But it is open with our office,” Dotson said. “It is no way completely done. It is still open and pending with our office, very — I mean, it’s all I can say, is that’s the truth. I mean, it’s pending, it’s pending. It’s a pending case with us.”
Porter remained jailed last week in the Boyd County Detention Center following his Aug. 20 arrest in the teen sexting case.
Porter’s attorney, C. David Mussetter of Catlettsburg, declined last week to speak with the Herald-Leader. In a court filing on Oct. 22, Mussetter asked to withdraw as Porter’s attorney, citing “irreconcilable differences” that have arisen between him and his client.
Another case, another second chance
While the first domestic violence case was diverted in Boyd County, a second began in Greenup County.
Raceland police arrested Porter on April 3, 2025, and charged him with fourth-degree assault, second-degree strangulation and third-degree strangulation for another assault on the same woman injured in Boyd County.
The woman told police Porter texted her threatening messages throughout the day and then burst into her home while drunk, threw her down on a couch and shoved his forearm into her throat to choke her, according to court records. The assault stopped when police arrived on the scene, according to the police report.
Porter is 6-foot-4-inches and weighed 240 pounds at the time of his arrest, according to the police report.
Porter was charged with fourth-degree assault, second-degree strangulation and third-degree terroristic threatening.
At this point, the Department of Juvenile Justice — made aware of the second arrest — placed Porter on paid leave again. He remained on leave until he was fired July 16 during the state investigation of the teen sexting case.
But Porter didn’t serve a jail sentence for the second case, either.
Greenup Commonwealth’s Attorney Rhese McKenzie agreed to a resolution of “conditional discharge.” That meant Porter would have a three-year prison sentence hanging over his head for the next three years. He could serve time if he got into trouble again and McKenzie pulled the trigger by pursuing a revocation order.
McKenzie also ordered Porter to get treatment in an “intensive outpatient program,” usually aimed at addressing substance abuse or anger management issues. Both of Porter’s arrest reports mentioned alcohol use.
And yet, Porter already had a recent history of domestic violence charges in Boyd County. Why give him another break instead of sending him to jail?
“Well, we only did that after consulting with the victim, and that was her desire, and that’s — that’s the reason we agreed,” McKenzie said.
“It’s certainly something that we take seriously,” McKenzie said. “But unfortunately, we also have to consider whether a victim is going to cooperate at a trial and provide testimony that we need.”
“So this was one that, you know, we talked to her about, that we had some concerns, and this was the outcome that we decided to go with,” the prosecutor said.
Porter has at least one other unresolved criminal case.
A 2017 felony case for flagrant nonpayment of child support has been pending in Greenup Circuit Court for eight years, through a lengthy series of pretrial conferences and, in 2021, Porter’s arrest by Ashland police on two active bench warrants for failure to appear at court hearings. The case was never closed.
How courts handle domestic violence
As a result of the teen sexting case, Porter faces a round of court hearings in coming weeks where prosecutors will take a second look at his domestic violence and child support cases.
In the Greenup County domestic violence case, for example, Porter is now also charged with probation violation. A probation revocation hearing in that case is set for Nov. 20. He’s getting a similar review in Boyd County.
Statewide data indicates that Porter’s initial treatment, with no jail time, was not uncommon.
The 2024 Domestic Violence Data Report, published by the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, analyzed how domestic violence charges were handled in state courts last year. In the five-county region of northeastern Kentucky that includes Boyd and Greenup, there were more dismissals in assault cases (114) than convictions (106), and in 43 cases, assault charges were either diverted or amended to avoid an assault conviction.
Nobody in the justice system wants to do a slipshod job addressing domestic violence, said Meg Savage, interim chief executive officer of ZeroV, a statewide coalition of domestic violence shelters.
But individual stories don’t get the attention they deserve when Kentucky courts are overburdened by heavy caseloads and local jails already are crammed with more inmates than they can safely hold, Savage said.
“It’s a really complicated puzzle that has a lot of different pieces and moving parts to it,” Savage said.
“Because I know our General Assembly tries to pass laws that will help to protect survivors of domestic violence,” she said. “I know judges work hard to try to get to the bottom of cases and make good decisions to protect survivors of domestic violence. And police officers are out there making arrests, sending people into the court system.
“I don’t know where the disconnect lies, other than a lack of resources. But there’s definitely room — much room — for improvement in terms of, how serious do we feel this problem is? And you know, how much of our combined resources do we want to throw at it?”
This story was originally published October 27, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
