Former Maine Politician Arrested For Child Porn

Two-time Maine gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler was arrested on March 25 for possessing child pornography and subsequently released on bail.

Two days prior to the arrest, search warrants were executed on two of his homes in Maine. Officers searched a farmhouse in Brooklyn and a town-home in Portland’s West End on March 23, according to the Associated Press.

Cutler, 75, was booked into Hancock County Jail with bail set at $50,000. The arrest, which came after a two-month investigation, reportedly came as shocking news in his hometown, Maine, as Cutler is a well-known political figure.

The investigation began in December after Maine state police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that someone in the state had either downloaded or uploaded a piece of child pornography. This investigation eventually resulted in Cutler’s arrest.

According to the arrest affidavit, Cutler was found with 10 files of child porn material. He has been charged with four counts of possessing sexually explicit content of children under the age of 12, with each count carrying a maximum penalty of five years in jail.

The counts are related to his alleged crimes between December and March, according to Hancock County District Attorney Matthew Foster. More materials are being reviewed and Foster expects more charges “on the way.” Cutler was eventually released on bail on Saturday afternoon.

“Currently, the charges against Cutler are Class C felony counts,” Dan Lampariello, an investigative journalist with WGME, said in a March 26 tweet. “I’m told Cutler will make his first court appearance early next week.”

The 75-year-old has run for governor as an independent, using his own personal wealth to fund his two campaigns. In 2010, Cutler finished two points behind winner Paul LePage. In the 2014 race, he finished third with eight percent of the votes.

Cutler had served previously as an aide to the late Democratic Sen. Edmund Muskie. He also acted as a top adviser for former President Jimmy Carter on energy and environmental issues. He then became an environmental attorney and established a law firm at Washington D.C.

After the police searched his two homes, Cutler resigned as director of the Maine-based Learner Foundation on March 23, citing personal reasons. He has been involved with the foundation since its creation in 2007.

Don Carpenter, the executive director of the organization, said that they were “deeply disturbed” to learn about the “serious accusations” brought against Cutler.

“In his former role on the Board of Directors, Eliot was involved in high-level strategy and governance and did not directly interface with students who participated in grant funded programming,” Carpenter said in a statement. “His relationship with the Lerner Foundation terminated as of Wednesday, March 23, 2022.”