PORTLAND – A Biddeford man has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for sexually abusing a child, recording video of the act, and later uploading it to the internet, said U.S. Attorney for Maine Darcie N. McElwee.
Jason Proulx, 44, was sentenced June 8 at by U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen at U.S. District Court in Portland, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Proulx pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting a minor and transporting child pornography on Sept. 27.
Court documents show that in 2016 or 2017, Proulx recorded sexually explicit videos of a girl who was 7 or 8 years old at the time. In July 2019, he uploaded the videos to a French website. Investigators with Homeland Security, armed with a warrant, searched a residence in Biddeford in June 2020. According to the news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Portland office, Proulx was present and agreed to speak with investigators. After initially denying any involvement, he eventually admitted that he had sexually abused the girl and recorded videos of the abuse in a room in the residence.
“Proulx sexually abused the victim on multiple occasions and created several different video recordings of the abuse,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Wolff outlined in a sentencing report. “He also groomed the victim prior to abusing her, by showing her sexually explicit images and erotica of children over multiple months …”
Upon sentencing, Torresen noted that the videos Proulx created and shared would remain on the internet forever, the news release stated. As a result, she said, the victim and her family would have a “cloud over their heads to the end of their days.” Torresen also noted that Proulx’s crimes were committed against the most vulnerable victims in society.
Records on file with the court recommend that Proulx be placed in a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility that can provide sex offender treatment. Proulx has been held in federal custody since his arrest.
Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case with assistance from the Biddeford Police Department.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.
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