After spending the night at the Hancock County Jail in Ellsworth, two-time Maine gubernatorial candidate Eliot R. Cutler was released on bail Saturday afternoon following his arrest Friday on charges that he possessed child pornography.
The bail for Cutler, a wealthy and prominent attorney, was set at $50,000, twice what prosecutors had requested. He made bail at 2:29 p.m., said Jail Administrator Tim Richardson.
Cutler, 75, of Brooklin, faces four counts of possession of sexually explicit material of a minor under 12, Hancock County District Attorney Matt J. Foster said.
That list of charges might grow as investigators sift through terabytes of information seized during two searches before Cutler’s arrest. Troopers from the Maine State Police took him into custody at his Brooklin farm without incident Friday and transported him to the jail in Ellsworth.
The four counts are Class C felonies, punishable by up to five years in prison. Foster said detectives identified 10 files of sexual exploitative material depicting children that police had seen before in other cases.
Foster said the arrest affidavit cited the 10 files of known child exploitation material found in Cutler’s possession. There was no indication there are local victims and police are still sifting through what has been seized.
The arrest affidavit will be held under seal until Cutler makes his first appearance in court. It’s unclear yet when Cutler will see a judge, Foster said. If Cutler had not made bail this weekend, it could have been as soon as Monday.
The fact that he was released before the weekend was up means that his attorney, Walt McKee, will likely enter an appearance on his behalf, meaning Cutler will not have to show up himself.
Attempts to reach Cutler, McKee and Foster for interviews on Saturday were not successful.
McKee confirmed the arrest shortly after police took Cutler into custody on Friday but declined to discuss the contents of the search warrants. McKee rushed to Ellsworth after Cutler’s arrest and visited with him inside the jail.
Eliot Cutler’s home at 523 Naskeag Point Road, Brooklin. Photo courtesy of Compass Point Real Estate
The investigation began with a tip in December when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent Maine State Police investigators information that someone in Maine had downloaded or uploaded an illegal image.
To find who downloaded or uploaded the illegal image, police then work backward to connect a person or address with the internet-connected device. That followed a two-month investigation by police. Maine State Police spokesperson Shannon Moss confirmed that Cutler’s homes at 84 Pine St. in Portland and at 523 Naskeag Point Road in Brooklin were searched on Wednesday.
Eliot Cutler’s townhouse at 84 Pine St. in Portland’s West End. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer
Cutler declined to speak with a Press Herald reporter who reached him Wednesday by phone. A message seeking an interview with his wife, Dr. Melanie S. Cutler, a psychiatrist who used to practice in Portland, was not returned after his arrest Friday.
The couple lived together for many years in a 15,000-square-foot mansion on Shore Road in Cape Elizabeth, which they sold last year. They sold their Shore Road mansion to a relative of Presidents George W. and George H.W. Bush for $7.6 million.
Cutler is a Bangor native and twice ran unsuccessfully for Maine governor, in 2010 and 2014. Prior to that, he was a longtime attorney, mostly in Washington, D.C. Before that, he worked for U.S. Sen. Edmund S. Muskie, a Democrat from Maine, and in the administration of President Jimmy Carter.
Following his second campaign for governor, Cutler was hired by the University of Maine System to help launch a business and law school.
Cutler ran as an independent candidate for governor in 2010 against Republican Paul LePage and Democrat Elizabeth Mitchell. In that race, Cutler narrowly lost to LePage, with Cutler getting 208,270 votes and LePage receiving 218,065 votes.
In 2014 Cutler again ran as an independent candidate for governor against Democrat Mike Michaud and LePage. In that race LePage beat Cutler by a wide margin, 294,519 to 51,515. Michaud received 265,114 votes. In both elections Democrats considered Cutler a spoiler, a label with which he disagreed.
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