And to think deviant and revolting Eliot Cutler could have been the governor

by Matthew Gagnon

May 3, 2023

Eliot Cutler was a mere 10,000 votes away from becoming the governor of Maine, and now he is likely going to jail.

We learned in mid-April that Cutler had come to a plea agreement with the Hancock County district attorney’s office that would include “an underlying jail sentence, a distinct period of incarceration and lengthy probation with conditions upon release.” In citing the reasons for the deal, District Attorney Robert Granger cited the large backlog of cases in his office, as well as Cutler’s age, as motivating factors.

On Tuesday, we finally learned that Cutler’s “underlying jail sentence” in the plea deal is a paltry nine months.

In a Bangor Daily News story on the sentence, former Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy was quoted complimenting Granger for his handling of the case. He also remarked that “overloaded courts are hindering our ability to prosecute effectively,” backing up the idea that it was necessary to make this deal because of the backlog.

With due respect, though, this sentence — while apparently similar to other sentences for this crime — is unconscionable, and I hope the judge tosses the deal.

To know why this sentence is so bad, one needs a more complete understanding of what Cutler possessed. The Maine State Police application for an arrest warrant of Cutler can give us some of that information, though I will warn you, the details of Cutler’s crimes are grotesque.

It all began with a tip from Dropbox Inc., a cloud-based file storage service used by Cutler. On Dec. 15 2021, Dropbox informed the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children that a file with sexually explicit material had been uploaded to its servers, and that the owner of the account it had been uploaded to belonged to Cutler.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children then informed the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit, which then began an investigation. A specialist was assigned to review the video file, and what she found was horrifying. The video was footage of an adult male sexually assaulting a prepubescent girl. She was, in the estimation of the state police, about 4 to 6 years old.

The police then obtained a search warrant for the contents of Cutler’s Dropbox account, and then later for his homes in Portland and Brooklin. Those search warrants were executed on March 23, 2022. The police immediately identified a very large number of child pornography videos on the seized flash cards. Several of the videos showed young girls around 4 years old being abused.

It soon became apparent that there were thousands of videos of young children being abused. The state police affidavit lists some of the file names, making clear the children being abused were between 8 and 12 years old. Many files were labeled “PTHC,” which stands for “Pre Teen Hard Core.”

All told, Cutler had 83,780 images of children under age 12 on his electronic devices.

And we’re going to talk about the “backlog” justifying a light sentence like this?

Please continue reading at the following weblink:

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Flashback

Senator Angus King endorses gubernatorial candidate Cutler

https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/politics/senator-king-...

King sings Cutler’s praises, endorsing independent in Maine governor’s race

https://www.sunjournal.com/2014/08/18/king-sings-cutlers-praises-en...