Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

U. Iowa sororities say they were duped by man posing as self-defense instructor
By Mary Harrington
The Daily Iowan, U. Iowa
December 15, 2008

Hundreds of sorority members showed up to presentations this year expecting to learn self-defense from an accredited instructor.

But the man - who called himself David Portnoy to some and David Parker to others - was a fraud.

Search results for the man in Missouri, where he claimed to be from, yielded no results.

"I kind of smelled a rat when he came," Delta Gamma member Rachel Kodner said. "I thought it was strange he showed up without any pamphlets, business cards, or contact information."

The man was known to have last been at the Pi Beta Phi house on Dec. 7, presenting self-defense moves to roughly 60 sorority members, and he has visited at least three other houses on campus this year.

He claimed he was affiliated with the Women's Safety Education Group, a Washington-based organization offering women's safety seminars.

But that organization posted a disclaimer on its Web site, saying officials there had received complaints regarding the man and that he has never been affiliated with the group.

In his presentations to the sorority members, he talked at length about the history of the organization and his involvement with it.

The presentations were offered for free, but the man urged the members to purchase containers of pepper spray he brought to sell. He set up deals, selling one bottle for $18, or three for $30, said Treacy Weldon, the president of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Almost everyone in the house bought at least one bottle, she said. The same was true in the Pi Beta Phi house and the Delta Gamma house, members said. Weldon said the man contacted her to pitch his services.

The sorority members wrote checks out to a man named Lawrence Portnoy, who the instructor claimed was the father of a rape victim.

The man devoted nearly a third of his hour-long presentation to pushing his pepper-spray product, urging the members to buy for their sisters, mothers, and grandmothers, said Pi Beta Phi member Stephanie DiGiorgio.

"He gave a lot of startling statistics that were freaking us out," she said.

The man told groups about teaching 7-year-old Girl Scouts his martial-arts moves and then teaching adult football players the moves.

"He had good stories, and I felt like he knew when and how to deliver the stories, listening to the women's reactions," Kodner said. "He claimed to be a third-degree black belt," she said about the man, who was described as overweight and slightly balding.

Although Kodner observed no "blatant inappropriate touching" during the presentations, she said she thought some of the moves he demonstrated were "borderline," such as grabbing women from behind and locking his arms around the upper body.

DiGiorgio said the man made one of the women pinch his inner thigh as part of the demonstration.

"It can be a valid move to make," said Karla Miller, the executive director of the Rape-Victim Advocacy Program. "However, I would consider it inappropriate for the women to actually participate in the demonstration of it."

Situations such as these may be more easily avoided if a known group, like UI police, is called for instructions instead. A thorough background check is also helpful, she said.

"In general, there are oftentimes individuals who will take advantage of others' legitimate concerns about safety," Miller said. "Unfortunately, their instructions may be unscrupulous or inappropriate as well."

Iowa City police Sgt. Troy Kelsay said no formal complaints have been made to authorities and that other than posing as a member of an organization and lying about his identity, there was likely not much criminal activity involved.

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