Now that convicted child pornographer Eliot Cutler is facing three alleged probation violations, the prosecutor says Cutler is likely to be put behind bars at least three more years.
Hancock/Washington District 7 Attorney Robert Granger, in an exclusive interview with The Maine Wire, said that as part of the original plea agreement, Cutler was required to serve nine months of what would otherwise have been – and still may come to be with his new charges – a full four years behind bars.
Granger said a stiff sentence was the least of what the former two-timed failed gubernatorial candidate was – and is – up against.
Cutler’s sentence, which included six years probation, was a plea deal Granger accepted due to practical legal constraints.
A number of variables went into the sentencing including it was Cutler’s first offense and he didn’t disseminate or reproduce the pornographic images.
Moreover, the backlog of criminal cases in the criminal-justice system means there was the possibility Cutler might never go on trial.
“There was a good chance he could have lived out his days without ever seeing a courtroom,” Granger said.
“I felt it was extremely important for child victims and for the concept of deterrence that Mr. Cutler experience the inside of a courtroom, face a form of justice that anonymous child victims would never see, face jail and depart this world a registered sex offender,” Granger told The Maine Wire.
“To my way of thinking, the shame imposed on him by conviction was a huge additional sentence that could not be measured,” Granger added. “His fall from grace leaves him with a legacy of condemnation and disrepute.”
Cutler was arrested Monday on the third alleged probation violation since he was freed from jail.
“Mr. Cutler has three years, three months imprisonment hanging over his head,” the prosecutor said.
Granger accepted the original plea deal because “if we didn’t reach accord, he might still be free without a conviction, without being a registered sex offender and still licensed to practice law because of the delays inherent with the court backlog,” the prosecutor said.
In 2023, Cutler, a former two-time failed Maine gubernatorial candidate, pleaded guilty to possession child porn.
Shortly after his release from jail, the now-disbarred lawyer was caught contacting a massage parlor to set up a date with an “escort.”
He was then released after being caught Googling the words “strip tease,” which he claimed he came across while he was Googling “how to strip labels from boxes.”
Cutler’s latest arrest stemmed from allegedly violating the conditions of that release.
Court records obtained by WMTW-TV show Cutler had DVDs with adult porn when confronted by a cop at the DoubleTree Hotel.
Cutler, who allegedly hid the items behind his back, “began to cry and say he can’t help himself and that he has had this problem for 65 years,” WMTW quoted a police report.
That would mean he was collecting porn during both his Ill-fated campaigns for Maine governor in 2010 and 2014.
Talk about campaign secrets…
Police Monday found in his room a stash of tapes and packaging for a DVD player that was plugged into a TV.
A judge Wednesday granted $50,000 bail on the latest porn charge but jailed Cutler on the probation violations.
