PORTLAND — An Otisfield man who worked at a summer camp and a day care center pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor involving children ages 3 and 7.
Travis Kimball, 22, is a former employee at Camp O-AT-KA in Sebago and Kid Quarters Child Care Center in New Gloucester.
A special agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Kimball sent an electronic message on June 7, 2022, to an undercover FBI task force officer and the two messaged back and forth.
The FBI agent asked Kimball to send a photo of himself, which he did, according to court records.
Kimball also sent the undercover agent three photos, each one of a man and a prepubescent boy engaged in sexual displays, as well as a video of a similar nature, court records said.
Through cellphone records, agents tracked down Kimball and identified him by the photos he sent of himself to the undercover agent, according to court records. Kimball later confirmed with agents that he was the man pictured in that photo.
On June 8, 2022, agents seized the cellphone Kimball was carrying and he was arrested, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Wolff.
On Kimball’s cellphone, agents found a video created on the morning of April 30, 2022, that shows Kimball and a 7-year-old child engaged in sexually explicit conduct, Wolff said.
Kimball “used Minor Child 1 to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of creating this visual depiction,” according to court records.
Investigators also discovered a video created the evening of June 2, 2022, that showed the genitals of a 3-year-old child, according to court records.
Kimball “used Minor Child 2 to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of creating this visual depiction,” according to court records.
Because Kimball used a cellphone to produce the two videos and because that phone wasn’t made in Maine, he was charged with federal crimes, according to Wolff.
Each of the two charges of sexual exploitation of a minor to which Kimball pleaded guilty Wednesday is punishable by 15 to 30 years in prison.
In a plea agreement accepted Wednesday by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Jon D. Levy, prosecutors recommended a 20-year sentence.
Levy is not bound by that recommendation when he imposes Kimball’s sentence, which will be set months later after a presentencing report has been completed by the probation office.
If Levy were to impose a sentence of more than 20 years, Kimball may file an appeal.
After Kimball pleaded guilty, Levy ordered him taken into custody by United States marshals. Kimball’s hands were cuffed behind him in the courtroom and he was led away.
His attorney, Heather Gonzales, had argued that Kimball should be allowed to remain free on a $10,000 unsecured bond in home confinement and continue to receive intensive mental health treatment twice a week as he has since his release last summer. No such programs would be available to him in jail, she said.
Federal law requires defendants who have pleaded guilty to crimes of violence be detained pending sentencing.
A judge can deviate from that practice if exceptional circumstances are shown to exist.
Kimball has complied with conditions of his release over the past seven months, Gonzales said. She said Kimball “does not like who he is as a person” based on his criminal conduct and that he is “feeling shame and remorse and is unsure how he could have committed” that conduct, Gonzales said.
She said Kimball has a “significant history of trauma,” but has had no criminal history.
Gonzales said Kimball would be a target in a jail setting, given the nature of the crimes to which he’s admitted.
But Levy said he wasn’t persuaded by clear and convincing evidence that Kimball’s situation rose to the level of exceptional circumstance and agreed with prosecutors that he could be a flight risk and might pose a danger to the community if he continued to remain free after pleading guilty.
Kimball also had been charged with distribution of child pornography and possession of material containing images of child pornography, but those charges would be dropped by prosecutors at Kimball’s sentencing.
In addition to imposing a prison sentence, Levy could order Kimball be on supervised release from five years to life after his release from prison.
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