Cathedral City man to stand trial for alleged vehicle break-ins at DesertX
City News Service
INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – A 40-year-old Cathedral City man accused of targeting vehicles whose owners were touring a popular outdoor art showcase in the Coachella Valley must stand trial for receiving stolen property, a judge ruled today, while dismissing multiple felony counts originally filed against the defendant.
Steven Patrick Porter was arrested in April 2023 following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation into vehicle break-ins at the DesertX exhibition near Palm Desert months earlier.
At the end of a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Susanne Cho found there was not sufficient evidence to bound Porter over for trial on two counts each of grand theft and burglary, as well as one count each of vandalism and petty theft. However, she ruled Porter should be held to answer for the one felony count of receiving stolen goods.
Cho permitted the defendant to remain free on $50,000 bail and scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment in the case for Sept. 24 at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
Porter has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
During the DesertX event in December 2022, multiple vehicle and related commercial burglaries were reported that resulted in about $70,000 in valuables stolen, according to sheriff’s Sgt. Travis Mountz.
He said the ensuing investigation led to Porter being identified as the alleged culprit, but no other details were disclosed.
Mountz said search warrants were executed at properties associated with the defendant, and some of the stolen property was ultimately recovered.
It was unclear whether investigators identified other potential conspirators. No one else has bee charged in connection with the burglaries.