BANGOR, Maine — The state’s former top drug prosecutor is scheduled to be back before a federal judge in Portland next month after cutting off his ankle monitoring bracelet and fleeing the state last month.
James Cameron, 50, of Rome is due to appear at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 10 before U.S. District Judge John Woodcock, who sentenced him in March 2011 to 16 years in federal prison on child pornography charges following a jury-waived trial.
The hearing was posted Wednesday on the court’s electronic case filing system.
Cameron cut off his ankle monitoring bracelet and jumped bail in the early morning hours of Nov. 15. He fled the state less than 12 hours after a three-judge panel of the federal appellate court in Boston upheld seven of his 13 convictions on child pornography charges.
Cameron was arrested Dec. 2 in Albuquerque, N.M. Two days later, a federal judge in New Mexico ordered that Cameron be returned to Maine.
Information about when Cameron will arrive in Maine and where he will be held while awaiting the resolution of his case was not available Wednesday.
Cameron has been assigned a new attorney, according to information posted on the court’s electronic case filing system. Federal Public Defender David Beneman is expected to be appointed formally by Woodcock next month to represent Cameron.
The U.S. attorney’s office said earlier this month that it would file a motion to revoke Cameron’s bail once he is back in Maine.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused Dec. 12 to reconsider Cameron’s appeal. The U.S. Justice Department notified that court Wednesday it would not be seeking a rehearing of the case either nor would it ask for a review of the decision by a full-judge panel.
Peter Horstmann, the Boston attorney who handled Cameron’s appeal, could appeal the 1st Circuit’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court after the case is resolved in Maine.
Once Woodcock has ruled on the motion to revoke Cameron’s bail, the judge is expected to schedule a date to resentence Cameron on the remaining seven counts. How Cameron’s flight will affect his sentence could not be determined Wednesday.