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…