Hollis Man on Release for Possessing Child Sexual Abuse Material Sentenced to 4 Years for Violating Conditions of Release

PORTLAND, Maine: A Hollis man who was previously convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material and perjury in 2014 was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Portland for violating his conditions of supervised release.

U.S. District Judge George Z. Singal sentenced Joel Dudley, 39, to 48 months in prison and supervised release for life after finding that Dudley had violated previously imposed conditions of release by committing new crimes.

In 2014, Dudley was sentenced to eight years in prison followed by ten years of supervised release for possessing child sexual abuse materials and testifying falsely under oath during a court hearing. According to court records, while on supervised release in the spring of 2022, Dudley showed another convicted sex offender sexually explicit photographs of a minor victim. Dudley also fondled that same child in the parking lot of the Maine Mall. Finally, according to court records, the U.S. Probation Office discovered that he had been exchanging graphic sexual messages with the child over Facebook using an alias and having unapproved contact  using electronic devices that he was prohibited from possessing. The U.S. Probation Office filed a petition to revoke Dudley’s term of supervised release in the fall of 2022.

A hearing was held over the course of three days. At the hearing’s conclusion, Judge Singal found that there was sufficient evidence to establish each of the charged violations. He also found that Dudley had perjured himself when he testified during the hearing, as well as during the sentencing phase of the hearing.

The sentence imposed by the Court was the maximum possible sentence that could be imposed for the charged violations. At sentencing, Judge Singal noted that he was imposing the maximum possible sentence because he “needed to protect the public from this defendant.”

The case was handled by U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations.

To report an incident involving the possession, distribution, receipt or production of child pornography: Child sexual abuse material – “child pornography” – captures the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. These images document victims’ exploitation and abuse, and they suffer re-victimization each time the images are viewed. File a report with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at https://report.cybertip.org/ or 1-800-843-5678. Your report will be forwarded to a law enforcement agency for investigation and action. If you have an emergency that requires an immediate law enforcement response, call 911 or contact your local police or sheriff’s department.

Project Safe Childhood: This 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. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.

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