A Sanford man who paid a child sex trafficker in the Philippines to abuse a child while he watched on a livestream was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Portland on Thursday.
Joseph Daniel Zoll, 63, will serve 25 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release.
Zoll shared child sexual abuse material with the child sex trafficker in the Philippines and paid them to sexually abuse a prepubescent child over a livestreaming videochat platform, according to court documents cited by the U.S. Department of Justice in a press release.
Zoll communicated with the trafficker and repeatedly instructed them how to abuse the child, while he watched over video calls. He did similar things with other child sex traffickers on the same online platform for years, often recording the video calls, which he would show to other traffickers when instructing them on how to abuse the children during their own calls.
To report child sexual exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline Report, visit report.cybertip.org. 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.
