A former top state drug prosecutor sentenced to serve nearly 16 years in federal prison for possessing child sexual abuse material and fleeing to New Mexico while he was on bail has been released.
James M. Cameron, 62, formerly of Hallowell and Rome, was released from federal custody Friday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He served his sentence in a federal prison in Colorado.
Cameron is to remain under supervised release for six years, during which time he must not commit any other crimes, not possess firearms or other dangerous weapons, and register as a convicted sex offender, court records said. He must also take part in and comply with requirements of the Computer and Internet Monitoring Program, including paying for a monitoring company and submitting to periodic unannounced examinations of his computers and searches of his residence, and fully participate in sex offender treatment.
Cameron previously was the chief drug crimes prosecutor in the Office of the Maine Attorney General, where he spent 18 years as an assistant attorney general. He was fired from the AG’s office in April 2008 and was indicted on child sexual abuse material charges in 2009. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported Yahoo had found multiple images on an account that was ultimately traced to Cameron. He was convicted in 2011 of 13 counts of possessing child sexual abuse material and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Cameron appealed his conviction and six of the 13 charges against him were dismissed. The seven remaining charges were for offenses that occurred in 2007 and included more than 175 images of child sexual abuse. While out on bail during his appeal, and living in the town of Rome, Cameron cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet and fled Maine. He was arrested in New Mexico after an 18-day nationwide manhunt.
He was then sentenced to 165 months in federal prison on the child sexual abuse charges, and 24 months on contempt charges for his effort to flee authorities. He served three years before his sentence, and he was expected to serve 12 more years in prison when he was sentenced in 2014.
A second appeal he filed in 2015, claiming his sentence was excessively long, was rejected by the 1st U.S. Circuit of Appeals.
Cameron continues to be listed on the Maine Sex Offender Registry, with an address in Littleton, Colorado, which is where the federal prison where he served his sentence is located.
HOW TO GET HELP
IF YOU or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, you can call 1-800-871-7741 for free and confidential help 24 hours a day.
TO LEARN more about sexual violence prevention and response in Maine, visit the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault website.
IF YOU or someone who you is struggling with a mental health crisis, you can also call the Maine Crisis Line 24 hours a day at 1-888-568-1112.
FOR MORE information about mental health services in Maine, visit the website for the state’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
