{{Infobox person | name = Edward Porta | image = Edward Porta mug shot.png | image_size = | caption = Porta's mug shot from federal arrest warrant. | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|11|13|mf=y}} | birth_place = Argentina | height = 6 ft 0 in (1.83 meters) | other_names = | spouse = | children = 2 | occupation = Textile trader | criminal_charges = Conspiracy to defraud, escape | criminal_penalty = 38 months at the U.S. Penitentiary in Lee County, Virginia | criminal_status = Released | parents = | footnotes = <ref name="AMW-20090422" /><ref name="USMS-20090409" /> }}
'''Edward Porta''' (born November 13, 1954) is an Argentinian former textile trader who was based in the area of Spartanburg, South Carolina.<ref name="USMS-20090409">{{cite web|publisher=U.S. Marshals Service|title=Local Man Wanted by U.S. Marshals Featured on AMW.com|url=http://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2009/040909f.htm|accessdate=July 29, 2010|date=April 9, 2009|archive-date=May 28, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528073134/http://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2009/040909f.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> He pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Department of Agriculture of more than $400,000. In February 2008, Porta escaped from the minimum security camp at the U.S. Penitentiary in Lee County, Virginia and was profiled on ''America's Most Wanted''.<ref name="AMW-20090422">{{cite web|publisher=America's Most Wanted|title=Edward Porta|url=http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=64489|accessdate=July 28, 2010|date=April 22, 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417210635/http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=64489|archivedate=April 17, 2012}}</ref>
==Background== Porta was married and divorced four times, and has two children. He has five siblings who he claims he did not have contact with for 40 years, according to police.<ref name="AMW-20090422" />
===Textile business=== Porta began his career working for his father's textile business. Police stated that he plotted to take advantage of federal programs such as the Export Credit Guarantee Program,<ref name="TimesNews-20080226" /> intended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assist small U.S. and foreign exporters of cotton to compete against large corporations. As president of Porta Textiles and Porta Technologies, he acted as both the importer and the exporter, according to the police. Along with money he defrauded from the government, police said that Porta also swindled banks and other businesses of over $2 million. After his arrest, Porta said that he moved around various parts of the United States and Latin America during his life.<ref name="AMW-20090422" />
==Incarceration, escape and recapture== Porta pleaded guilty on December 20, 2005 to the charge of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. On May 2, 2007, the court in Asheville, North Carolina sentenced Porta to 38 months at the U.S. Penitentiary in Lee County, Virginia.<ref name="USMS-20090409" /> He was ordered to pay $2.9 million restitution.<ref name="SHJ-20090410">{{cite news|publisher=Spartanburg Herald-Journal|author=Craig Peters|title=Fugitive featured on Web site has ties to Spartanburg|url=http://www.goupstate.com/article/20090410/ARTICLES/904101068|accessdate=July 29, 2010|date=April 10, 2009}}</ref>
Porta was assigned federal inmate register number 18862-058.<ref>{{cite web|title=Inmate Locator: Edward Porta|url=http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&LastName=Porta&Middle=&FirstName=Edward&Race=&Sex=&Age=&x=0&y=0|publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons|accessdate=July 28, 2010}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Authorities believe Porta had walked away from the minimum security camp at the penitentiary when he turned up missing during a 4 p.m. count on February 25, 2008.<ref name="TimesNews-20080226">{{cite news|publisher=Kingsport Times-News|author=Walter Littrell|title=Inmate on the lam from U.S. Penitentiary in Lee County|url=http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9005309|accessdate=July 28, 2010|date=February 26, 2008|archive-date=March 8, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308145247/http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9005309|url-status=dead}}</ref> He had been placed in the low security area and was given a significant amount of freedom because he had been convicted of a business-related white-collar crime.<ref name="AMW-20090422" /> He was scheduled to have been released on April 15, 2010.<ref name="TimesNews-20080226" /> Porta was profiled on ''America's Most Wanted''.<ref name="AMW-20090422" />
Porta was captured on May 28, 2016 at a motel near Seattle Tacoma International Airport after being featured on 'Washington's Most Wanted'.<ref name="MYNW-20160526">{{cite news|publisher=MyNorthwest.com|author=AP|title=8-year run after prison escape ends with arrest near Seattle|url=http://mynorthwest.com/301978/8-year-run-after-prison-escape-ends-with-arrest-near-seattle/|date=May 26, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Former Prisoner at USP Lee Sentenced for 2008 Escape|url=https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdva/pr/former-prisoner-usp-lee-sentenced-2008-escape|website=www.justice.gov|accessdate=24 March 2018|location=ABINGDON, VIRGINIA|language=en|date=31 August 2016}}</ref>
Porta served the remainder of his sentence at a corrections facility in Russell County, Virginia. He was released on October 1, 2019.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:t-9Cl3yUWIQJ:www.websupp.org/data/DID/1:05-cr-00239-78-DID.pdf+USA+v.+Porta&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESha75ZJ0bykm_1NOHauDZbX5OF0kkME8FAIJY_1UtKJ4vL-qx05tC3wCjqo5OS7zMGVaHDaE5X_FeypmyHd1MjaFlEAPLAUBLewHpEMNHhkOMPeFF4zuuoWgWn13EmECFg8Uc7f&sig=AHIEtbRL7VwF0cPRp1AnZR-7UH3h19UPFw Case #1:05cr239 - United States of America v. Edward Porta] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110629193948/http://www.interpol.int/public/Data/Wanted/Notices/Data/2008/41/2008_18141.asp Wanted: Porta, Edward - arrest warrant] at Interpol
{{Portal bar|Biography}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porta, Edward}} Category:1954 births Category:American escapees Category:Argentine businesspeople Category:Argentine escapees Category:Argentine fraudsters Category:Fugitives wanted by the United States Category:Living people Category:People convicted of fraud Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government