PORTLAND — A former Biddeford Middle School education technician who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in July is scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 12.
Jesse Kiesel, who was 48 when he was arrested in July 2021, was originally charged with possession of child pornography, and attempting to send obscene images to a minor. He pleaded guilty to the possession charge, a federal Class C crime, at U.S. District Court in Portland on July 21. He remains free on bail.
The offense carries a maximum federal prison term of 20 years, a $250,000 fine, and five years of supervision following release from prison.
A non-binding agreement worked out between Assistant U.S. Attorney Noah Falk and defense counsel John Webb outlines that Kiesel would waive his right to appeal any sentence greater than 87 months.
Kiesel had worked as an ed tech at Biddeford Middle School since 2017. The Biddeford School Department placed Kiesel on administrative leave in the spring of 2021, when it learned of the investigation. He resigned on Aug. 11, 2021.
Numerous images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct were recovered from his computer. According to the prosecutor’s version of the case on file at the court, investigators recovered a custom-built desktop computer that was found to contain more than 600 images and video depicting child pornography. Prosecutors said the images and video were received from websites located on the “dark web,” and had been transported using the internet prior to Kiesel possessing them in Maine.
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