Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Derek
Hinkley, a/k/a “Ethan Hinkley,"30, of Lewiston, Maine, and formerly of Strong, was
sentenced yesterday in U.S District Court by Judge Nancy Torresen to 25 years in prison and
supervised release for life for sexual exploitation of a child. Hinkley pled guilty on Jan. 30,
2014.
On July 17, 2012, Hinkley invited two boys, ages 12 and 15, to spend the night at his
apartment telling the boys that he was 18 years old. Upon arrival at his apartment, Hinkley used
a laptop computer to show them pornography and then, brandishing a knife, forced both to
masturbate and play with a sex toy. On July 18, 2012, shortly after midnight, Hinkley used a
webcam on his computer to capture and disseminate live over the internet on a social media
website the image of the older boy masturbating at knifepoint. On July 19, 2012, Hinkley’s
apartment was searched and detectives seized the computer and the sex toy. A forensic analysis
of the computer revealed that Hinkley used the social media website at the same time reported by
the victims. On July 20, 2012, Hinkley confessed to committing the crime.
The charge required imposition of a mandatory minimum 15 year term in prison. In
imposing sentence, Judge Torresen said: "You do have a very serious problem and I can't be
comfortable that others will be protected unless I give you a very serious sentence."
The investigation was conducted by the Lewiston Police Department and U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
