Former two-time candidate for Maine governor Eliot Cutler has been arrested three times in the last six months for allegedly violating the terms of his release. His probation officer said recently that Cutler has demonstrated he can’t stop accessing pornography.
The 79-year-old, who lives in the coastal Hancock County town of Brooklin, was first convicted in 2023 for possessing thousands of sexually explicit images of children. He served seven months in jail and has been on probation since he was released and required to register as a sex offender.
Court documents say Cutler has undergone some treatments and counseling for “problematic sexual behavior” during that time. But his repeated arrests and the alleged subversions of court orders raise questions about what treatment for sex offenders looks like — and how effective it is.
As the internet has drastically increased the sheer amount and availability of pornography, the phenomenon of “porn addiction” has become a widely discussed topic among therapists and scholars.
“It’s still debated the extent to which that’s within the control of the individual,” said Elizabeth Jeglic, a professor of psychology at John Jay College in New York. “A lot of people believe that calling it an addiction takes away the person’s responsibility for making those choices. … It diminishes somebody’s accountability for making a choice to do something like this.”
Research hasn’t proven if the mechanisms that apply to substance use disorder or gambling addiction apply to pornography, Jeglic said. And part of the controversy is that the addition of the physical act of masturbation behaviorally reinforces the viewing of pornography, she said.
During his most recent arrest he was seen by police at a South Portland hotel with numerous pornographic DVDs he admitted to having recently purchased, which would violate the conditions of his probation.
“Mr. Cutler began to loudly cry and say he can’t help himself and that he has had this problem for 65 years,” the police narrative reads.
Cutler has denied during court proceedings that he violated the conditions of his release. His attorney, Walter McKee, declined to comment on the allegations against Cutler or the case generally.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CHRONIC PORN CONSUMPTION
Court documents and Cutler’s own comments allude to some sort of addictive or compulsive habits.
In a report written after his arrest last week, probation officer Sam Payson said Cutler will likely continue to ignore court orders and relapse.
“Mr. Cutler has demonstrated that he has no intent of following his ordered conditions and is simply searching for ways to circumvent them,” Payson wrote, arguing that Cutler should be returned to jail for 39 months.
Though Cutler was initially charged with possessing sexually explicit images of children, his more recent arrests involved adult pornography.
Research indicates that consuming child sex abuse material has some sort of compulsive element to it, according to University of Maine professor Jeffrey Hecker, who researches forensic psychology and sexual offending.
Studies have found those convicted of sex crimes involving children often remain sexually interested in them for years, he said. Anonymous surveys of those convicted of viewing child pornography found between 60% to 80% accessed it again after their arrest, according to Hecker.
“Adult pornography is now so easily accessible on the internet that a person has to bypass a lot of the legal material to look for specific sexual material involving children. It takes a lot more seeking out,” Hecker said. “That seems to be more of a driven, kind of compulsive behavior. Not just accessing pornography for simple sexual arousal.”
Cutler was an established public figure prior to his conviction nearly three years ago, first as a lawyer and co-founder of a Washington, D.C., environmental law firm and later as an independent candidate for governor in 2010 and 2014. He lost both times to Republican Paul LePage but came within 10,000 votes of winning the first time.
While not inherently risk factors in themselves, having wealth and a position of influence can also act as a shield from accountability, said Jessica Gorton, a spokesperson with the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
Cutler has not been accused of sexual abuse or assault, but Gorton said for any sex-related crimes, the legal process is often lengthy, time consuming and expensive, especially when the accused perpetrator can afford a high-powered defense attorney.
“We know that money is a kind of power,” she said. “And we know that people who have power can affect who’s believed in these situations, who can access legal defense, who shapes the public narrative, and who’s shielded from scrutiny.”
So, when a convicted sex offender reoffends after a lengthy court battle and subsequent conviction, as Cutler is accused of doing, Gorton said victims of sexual abuse often feel a “chilling effect.”
“They don’t think they’re going to get safety at the other end,” she said. “They think that coming forward is actually going to put them at more risk.”
THE IMPLICATIONS ON CUTLER’S CASE
Payson, the probation officer, wrote in court records that Cutler’s alleged violations are due to his “inability” to avoid watching pornography.
He was arrested in September for allegedly violating the conditions of his probation by searching for an escort online and later released on $1,000 bail.
Cutler was accused of violating conditions of that release in December and again in January. Details about those cases have been impounded by a judge because they involve images depicting “a relatively young female with reference to the word ‘girl,’” according to court documents. But Cutler was released from jail again after posting $10,000 bail.
Just weeks later, Cutler was arrested again at a South Portland hotel. Police said they found him in possession of numerous sexually explicit DVDs, a violation of the conditions of his probation.
Payson reported that Cutler had recently begun treatment for problematic sexual behaviors, as recommended by probation.
Court documents suggest he had some treatment at Paradise Creek Recovery Center, a “residential sex addiction treatment center” in Idaho, as well as with an unnamed forensic psychologist in Maine.
He was ordered under his probation conditions to continue counseling as recommended by those treatment providers, according to court documents.
Recidivism rates among Maine sex offenders are higher than the national average. About 40% of the state’s child predators committed another crime following their release from jail, a 2023 study found. About 5% of those secondary offenses were for sex crimes.
The national recidivism rate among sex offenders is just over 30%, according to Jason Rydberg, who studies sex offender recidivism as an associate professor of criminology at UMass Lowell. Around 7% were charged with a new child pornography offense.
Those numbers are likely under reported due to the nature of the crime, Rydberg said.
“If your car gets stolen, most people are going to call the police about that. But children, for instance, do not get up every day and have the bravery to recognize their situation and get help,” Rydberg said. “Sexual offenses are well known in terms of the challenge of their detection compared to other (crimes).”
Jeglic, the John Jay professor, said there are a number of risk factors for sex offenders like Cutler whose crimes involve children. Many are lonely men with intimacy issues and social skill deficits.
While cognitive behavioral therapy can treat excessive porn consumption, Jeglic said individuals must often confront underlying psychological issues or environmental factors that enable or fuel it.
“I think it is harder for older people sometimes, if they’re not motivated to change,” she said. “That being said, I think everybody is always able to make changes.”
Staff Writer Morgan Womack contributed to this story.
