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A Rumford Republican is proposing a new bill to clamp down on habitual sex offenders.
Rep. Rachel Henderson, who represents House District 78, which covers Bethel, Byron, Hanover, Milton Township, Roxbury and Rumford, has dubbed the bill the “Eliot Cutler Law,” in reference to the disgraced former gubernatorial candidate who was convicted of possessing thousands of images and videos of children being sexually abused.
“As a legislator and, really, state leaders in general have a responsibility to the state to hold those accountable that are committing the most disgusting and reprehensible crimes, but also to make sure that the victims or potential future victims of those perpetrators are safer and are safer in our streets,” Henderson said in a video announcing the bill.
Under the proposal, announced Wednesday, convicted sex offenders out on probation would serve out the rest of their sentences after “the very first probation violation,” while those who face a sex crime charge but who allegedly commit another sex-based offense while out on bail would stay in jail until their case is adjudicated.
“You don’t get to roam the streets. You haven’t learned your lesson. You’re not rehabilitated. You go back to serve your sentence,” said Henderson, who was first elected to the Legislature in 2022.
The bill wouldn’t be taken up until a new legislature is seated in January.
Cutler has been accused of repeatedly violating his bail conditions for his conviction of possessing media showing children being sexually abused. In June, a Washington County judge said there was no probable cause for charging Cutler with a sixth probation violation, saying the state should never have allowed his June 11 arrest.
Cutler was arrested in March 2022 after police raided his home in Brooklin as part of a child sexual abuse material investigation, which ultimately found 142,000 images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, including a video of a man sexually assaulting a girl who was between 4 and 6 years old.
He was sentenced in May 2023 to four years with all but nine months suspended as part of a plea deal. Cutler was released from the Hancock County Jail in Ellsworth in January after seven and a half months for good behavior.
He is now a lifetime registrant on Maine’s sex offender registry.
Cutler also has lost his license to practice law in both Maine and New York.
Cutler twice ran for governor, in 2010 and 2014, as an independent. He came within 10,000 votes of the Blaine House during his first campaign.