Eliot Cutler has been accused of his fifth probation violation after allegedly refusing to provide investigators with passwords to access his electronic devices.
The former gubernatorial candidate, who has now been charged with breaking probation conditions five times since December, allegedly withheld passwords and maintained encrypted files on his devices without permission from his probation officer Sam Payson, according to an April 21 motion Payson signed.
Cutler, who was convicted in 2023 for possessing child sex abuse materials, was arrested in early February after he was allegedly caught in a South Portland hotel with pornographic DVDs, violating the terms of his probation.
Cutler has been incarcerated since that Feb. 9 arrest. Earlier this month, a Hancock County judge denied his attorney’s request to set a “reasonable bail.”
Through his attorney, Walt McKee, Cutler provided authorities with three passcodes — none of which were correct — leaving investigators with the Maine State Police’s Special Victims Unit unable to access his devices.
“Mr. Cutler denies all of these allegations,” McKee told the Bangor Daily News Wednesday morning.
District Attorney Robert Granger is requesting that Cutler’s three-year probation be fully revoked, which would mean the 79-year-old Brooklin man would be incarcerated for longer than he originally served.
“This is Mr. Cutler’s fifth violation of his probation conditions in a relatively short timeframe, all of which are due to his inability to refrain from pornography and participate in court ordered PSB [problematic sexual behavior] treatment,” according to the motion.
Cutler is scheduled to appear in court on May 15 for a probation revocation hearing.
Following his February arrest, Cutler was “unsatisfactorily discharged” from his court-ordered sexual behavior treatment, amounting to his fourth probation violation at the time.
In September 2025, Cutler allegedly violated his probation conditions for the first time by visiting a website for a massage parlor and completing a survey for a sexual escort, according to court documents.
In January, he turned himself into Hancock County jail after he was accused of accessing pornographic materials on the internet in late December and early January.
