Timeline: Eliot Cutler’s public life, arrests and pending charges

Eliot Cutler on the campaign trail, before the charges of child porn possession caught up to him. Photo courtesy of BMRR/Creative Commons.

March 2, 2026

By Tricia Thomas

Eliot Cutler, who ran twice for governor of Maine, grew up in Bangor. He attended Deerfield Academy, a private high school in Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard, and earned a law degree at Georgetown. In his early career, he worked for Maine’s Sen. Edmund Muskie, where he worked on the passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. He later worked as the youngest associate director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Carter Administration. He then turned to private law as an environmental lawyer in the 1980s, until his run for governor in 2010, where the following timeline starts. 

2010

Cutler, a Bangor-born attorney who had worked both under Sen. Ed Muskie and later under President Jimmy Carter, runs as an independent candidate for Governor of Maine. He comes in second in the race, narrowly bested by Republican Paul LePage.

2014

Cutler again runs for governor. This time, he places third, well behind winning incumbent LePage and Democratic candidate Mike Michaud, the runner-up.

2015

Cutler announces that he will not run for governor again, stating that he is taking a “vow of abstinence” from doing so. He also announces his appointment by the University of Maine as head of a new center that would unify graduate programs of the University of Maine, the University of Southern Maine, and the University of Maine School of Law.

2017

Cutler announces that he will help recruit independent candidates for the upcoming 2018 election.

Cutler sells his waterfront home in Cape Elizabeth. He and his wife buy a five-bedroom condominium on Pine Street in Portland. Cutler also says that he is looking for a second home “on the water” in Maine.

2019

Cutler purchases a property on Naskeag Point Road in Brooklin that overlooks Blue Hill Bay. The property, called Amen Farm, had once been owned by local newspaper columnist Roy Barrette.

2022

In January 2022, Maine State Police launch an investigation after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that someone using Cutler’s name and email address had accessed child pornography on an electronic device in December 2021.

On March 23, 2022, Cutler’s residences in Portland and Brooklin are searched. Cutler is arrested two days later, on March 25, and is charged with four counts of possessing child pornography.

In June 2022, Cutler sells his Portland townhome. 

2023

On Apr. 18, 2023, an investigator provides a memorandum to the district attorney that outlines the number and nature of images found on Cutler’s devices. According to court documents, the memorandum indicates that “Of the 142,000 images and videos provided for review, random sampling revealed 59% of the files or 83,780 of the files, contained child pornography where the children were under age 12.”  Court documents also state that the “downloads occurred between 2014 and 2021.”

In May 2023, Cutler pleads guilty to four counts of possessing sexually explicit material of a minor under the age of 12. The class “C” crime is the lowest classification of felonies. He is sentenced on May 4, 2023, on all four counts, to nine months in jail and six years of probation. 

On June 1, Cutler reports to the Hancock County Jail in Ellsworth to begin serving his sentence.

2024

In January 2024, Cutler is released from jail on “good behavior” after serving seven of nine months. Under conditions of his probation, Cutler is required to refrain from pornography and the use of unmonitored electronic devices, to continue treatment for his addiction, and to regularly report to a probation officer. He also is required upon his release to register as a sex offender.

2025

In October 2025, Cutler is arrested and charged with allegedly using an external USB drive on Sept. 8 to access a website for a San Francisco massage parlor, on which he lists his preferences for an escort. Cutler also allegedly tells his probation officer that he’ll need to travel to California to “see elderly friends.” In addition, Cutler is charged with possessing unmonitored cell phones and a USB drive, which are not permitted under the rules of his probation.

On Dec. 16, Cutler posts $1,000 bail and agrees to inventory all electronic devices in his possession. He also agrees not to access sexually explicit materials, and to submit to random searches of his home and property, among other requirements. He is ordered to undergo “counseling and treatment” for “sexual offender issues.”

2026

On Jan. 12, 2026, Cutler is charged with again violating his probation by accessing pornography on Jan. 2 and Dec. 28. A warrant is issued for his arrest.

Cutler turns himself in to the Hancock County Jail, and is released on Jan. 14, 2026 on $10,000 bail. Under the terms of his release, Cutler is told he cannot access the internet without his probation officer’s permission, and cannot access any material that depicts nudity, among other requirements.

Less than a month later, on Feb. 9, 2026, Cutler is discovered by Maine State Police in alleged possession of pornographic DVDs at a South Portland hotel. Cutler is arrested and charged—for the third time in five months—with violating his probation, and is taken to Cumberland County Jail.

Cutler’s attorney and district attorneys from both Cumberland and Hancock counties reach an agreement to try Cutler on all charges in Hancock County. He is to remain in Cumberland County Jail until his transfer to Hancock County.

In a hearing in Hancock County Unified Criminal Court on Feb. 25, Cutler denies by Zoom and through his attorney that he violated his probation and terms of release, including a fourth violation for allegedly failing to appear for court-mandated counseling while he was incarcerated in Portland. District Court Judge Terence Harrigan postpones a ruling on the matter, and sets a “placeholder” date of April 8 for a bail revocation hearing. Hancock County District Attorney Bob Granger says it is likely that the hearing will be delayed past April.

On Feb. 27, Cutler’s attorney says that his client’s transfer to Hancock County Jail is imminent.