A Cornville resident received a 30-month prison sentence for accessing child sexual abuse material, as handed down by U.S. District Judge Stacey D. Neumann in Bangor, Maine. Wade Willette, 46, admitted to the offense on October 3, 2024, and will be under supervised release for five years after serving his prison term.
The case began in August 2020 when an individual contacted an undercover FBI agent on an online bulletin board associated with child exploitation. The username and email address linked to that individual were traced back to Willette. In January 2022, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a tip from Kik Messenger about three videos containing child sexual abuse material uploaded by the same user.
A search warrant was executed at Willette’s home in March 2023, where he acknowledged owning the Kik account and searching for such material on his phone. He also admitted to discussing child pornography in online forums. Investigators recovered two images of child sexual abuse from his device.
The FBI conducted the investigation. This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.
For those needing to report incidents of child exploitation, contact NCMEC or, if in Maine, the statewide sexual assault helpline is available. Project Safe Childhood works to identify and rescue victims while prosecuting offenders.