A former gubernatorial candidate and registered sex offender denies that he violated the terms of his probation.
Eliot Cutler was in Hancock County Superior Court on Tuesday morning, after a probation officer said in October that Cutler was caught using an external USB drive to access content about massage parlors in San Francisco. By using the hard drive, the probation officer wrote in an affidavit, Cutler went around a strict internet monitoring program imposed as part of his probation.
Cutler previously pleaded guilty in May 2023 to possessing thousands of sexually explicit images of minors, including children as young as 4 years old. Cutler was sentenced to nine months in jail and six years of probation as part of a plea deal.
His alleged USB search, which was alleged to have happened in September, coincided with a request to visit friends in California, the probation officer said.
District Court Judge Terence Harrigan ordered Tuesday morning that Cutler pay $1,000 cash bail to remain out of jail. Harrigan rejected the state’s request to bar Cutler from accessing the internet, but Cutler will have to submit an inventory of all of the electronic devices he owns, and those purportedly owned by his wife, and submit to a random search of his property.
Cutler also agreed through his defense attorney, Walter McKee, to complete sexual offender counseling and treatment through programming from the Maine Department of Corrections.
McKee told the court that Cutler has already been participating in therapy and group sessions through the internet.
Cutler was ordered to continue following his probation conditions and is scheduled to reappear in court on Jan. 26.