Former Maine gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler is expected to serve nine months behind bars for possessing child porn, according to court paperwork.
Court documents say in exchange for pleading guilty to four counts of possession of sexually explicit material of a child under 12, the 76-year-old will reportedly face a four-year prison sentence with all but nine months suspended. Once Cutler is released, he will be on probation for six years. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
Cutler is expected to enter his new pleas on Thursday in Hancock County.
He was arrested last year at his waterfront home in Brooklin. He was charged with four counts of possession of sexually explicit material of a child under 12.
Maine State Police raided two of Cutler's homes last year after a search warrant was issued based on a cyber tip of a single video download.
A law enforcement affidavit indicated that Cutler explained to his wife in the presence of investigators that the search warrant was for images depicting child sexual abuse and that investigators “would probably find some on one of his computers.”
The Computer Crimes Unit says it found a "high volume of very young child pornography, including literally thousands of videos of very young children being sexually abused."
While on bail, Cutler convinced a judge to let him back online, with restrictions, even though the affidavit indicated he possessed thousands of videos of children being sexually abused.
Cutler was within 10,000 votes of being elected governor in 2010 when he narrowly lost to Paul LePage in a three-way race.
In 2014, Cutler finished with 8 percent of the vote, while Democrat Mike Michaud won 43 percent of the vote to LePage's 48 percent.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.