Eliot Cutler, the disgraced former Maine gubernatorial candidate who was arrested again Monday, is accused of possessing pornography, his lawyer said — the third time since September that Cutler has allegedly violated the conditions of his release.
Cutler, 79, was convicted in 2023 of possessing thousands of sexually explicit images of children and sentenced to nine months in jail followed by six years of probation. He was let out of jail in January 2024, two months before his scheduled release date because of “good behavior.”
Maine State Police say they arrested Cutler at a South Portland hotel on Monday after officers witnessed him breaking the terms of his most recent — and more stringent — bail conditions. State police declined on Tuesday to share further information about the circumstances of his arrest.
Cutler’s attorney, Walter McKee, said in an emailed statement Tuesday morning that he had not yet seen any police reports about the arrest, but he said his client was accused of “possessing pornography.”
Cutler is being held without bail at the Cumberland County Jail, jail employees said Tuesday.
Administrators for the Cumberland County Court said Tuesday that no court paperwork related to Monday’s arrest was available yet.
Hancock County District Attorney Robert Granger declined to comment on Cutler’s arrest, also saying he has not seen any court paperwork.
Authorities have said Cutler initially violated the conditions of his probation in September by allegedly seeking an escort online and having two unauthorized cellphones. In mid-December, he denied those allegations in court, and a Hancock County judge ordered him to pay $1,000 in bail to remain out of custody.
After he posted bail, Cutler was accused of violating those bail conditions on two separate occasions, in late December and early January. He turned himself in to the Hancock County Jail on Jan. 13 and was released a day later after posting $10,000 cash bail.
Justice Harold Stewart ordered last month that Cutler was banned from accessing the internet and having any electronic devices that can do so, except as approved by his probation officer. He’s also not allowed to access any pornographic material or images, according to the bail conditions.
Andrew Harris, a criminology professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell who studies sex offender management policy, said in an interview Tuesday that it’s common for offenders to violate the conditions of their release “for a range of reasons.” The severity of those violations vary from case to case, depending on how strict the conditions are, he said.
Harris also said it’s common for judges to issue orders restricting internet access and access to pornography, but that those conditions can be difficult for authorities to monitor.
When Cutler was sentenced in 2023, investigators said he had more than 80,000 images of children younger than 12 being sexually abused, many as young as 4 years old.
He previously worked in Washington, D.C., as an attorney, public servant and co-founder of an environmental law firm. He was disbarred in both New York and Maine following his guilty plea. Cutler ran twice for Maine governor, in 2010 and 2014, as an independent candidate. He currently lives in Brooklin.
