If you are in Maine and you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted or abused, you can get help by calling the free, private 24-hour statewide sexual assault helpline at 800-871-7741.
A 43-year-old Florida man was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Bangor for sexually exploiting a Maine girl he contacted on Instagram and distributing child pornography.
Wesley Deal, also known as Wesley Troy Harris, pleaded guilty to the charges on April 7.
According to court records, Deal posed as a teenage boy to interact with an 11-year-old girl from Maine on Instagram beginning in August 2020. Deal convinced the girl to send him sexually explicit images and videos then threatened to post the material on Snapchat and Instagram if she did not send more.
The girl’s father learned of the communications and contacted police. During the investigation, law enforcement traced the Instagram account to Deal. On Deal’s cell phone police found more than 700 child sexual abuse images and evidence of Google Hangouts chats similar to those Deal had with the Maine victim.
Reports of child sexual exploitation are increasing, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2022, The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children CyberTipline received 32 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation, including more than 80,000 reports of online enticement of children for sexual acts, an increase of 82 percent from 2021.
