Verlyne (née Bartlett), had four children. Following Porter's arrest years later, his family revealed that he was often emotionally and physically abusive toward them; Porter's son Sean also told authorities that his father had sexually abused him. Caught In 1990, Frank Fitzpatrick went public with accusations that Porter had molested him as a child in the 1960s. Over the next two years, Fitzpatrick contacted the state police, the FBI, and the media. No one agreed to help him. He eventually reached attorney Roderick MacLeish, who had won a large sexual abuse case that year. MacLeish agreed to take the case on. He arranged for Fitzpatrick and five other Porter victims to talk to Joe Bergantino, an investigative reporter for WBZ-TV. Bergantino's piece attracted nation news and eventually more than 100 victims came forward to accuse Porter. The Boston Globe published more than 100 articles about the case. In 1992, a series of investigative reports by ABC News producer Grace Kahng on Porter's crimes aired on Primetime Live, hosted by Diane Sawyer, which sparked national attention. The initial Primetime Live broadcast revealed Porter had abused over 100 children in Massachusetts. Sawyer interviewed 30 adults who had been raped as elementary school children by Porter. The investigation and documents obtained by MacLeish revealed that instead of removing Porter after parents reported the abuse, the Catholic Church had moved him to a treatment center and then to Bemidji, Minnesota, where he continued to rape dozens of children. Primetime Live interviewed 30 of Porter's victims and their parents, and confronted the priest who had transferred Porter from Massachusetts to Minnesota knowing of his crimes. They also contacted Porter himself, who still had contact with children as a Sunday school teacher at his church. The ABC News investigation discovered and interviewed a local babysitter who said Porter had sexually abused her in 1984. After the report aired, it was discovered that Porter had also molested the babysitter's younger sister, a crime that was within the statute of limitations. This development allowed local Minnesota authorities to finally arrest Porter. Before Porter's arrest, Sawyer and her producer confronted the former priest at a local carnival. Arrest and first conviction Within weeks of the ABC News broadcast, Porter was arrested, tried and convicted of sexually abusing his children's babysitter. He served four months of a six-month prison sentence before his conviction was overturned by the Minnesota Supreme Court.