Disgraced gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler denied he violated his probation when he appeared in court Tuesday.
Cutler, 79, is on probation after he pleaded guilty in 2023 to four felony counts of possession of child pornography. He has served about a third of his six-year probation after he spent roughly 8 months in jail and earned an early release for good behavior.
He appeared in person and pleaded not guilty to the probation violation Tuesday in Hancock County Superior Court.
He allegedly violated his probation in September by visiting a website for a massage parlor in the San Francisco area and filling out a questionnaire about his preferences for a sexual escort, according to a motion to revoke probation from his probation officer.
He filed a request to see friends in California around the same time, the officer said.
Cutler turned over two phones to the probation officer, and an analysis didn’t find anything but it said the phones were reset.
His internet usage is monitored as part of his probation conditions, which led to this alleged violation, his attorney Walter McKee said during the hearing.
Cutler’s new bail was set at $1,000 cash and he must surrender his passport, Judge Terence Harrigan said. Cutler must also report a list of all devices that can access the internet and attend counseling for sexual offenders.
A hearing for the probation violation is scheduled for Jan. 26.
The former Maine gubernatorial candidate had 142,000 pornographic images and videos of children saved on his electronic devices when police searched his Brooklin home in March 2022, according to a sentencing memo filed by Hancock County District Attorney Robert Granger. Nearly 84,000 of those images depicted children under age 12, with some of the children as young as 4 to 6 years old, according to the memo.
Correction: An earlier version of this report misstated the amount of Eliot Cutler’s bail.