FARMINGTON – A Phillips man was sentenced to a year in prison today in Franklin County Superior Court, having previously admitted to receiving sexually-explicit pictures from a 14-year-old girl on his cellphone.
Joshua Allen, 29, of Phillips, was sentenced to one year in prison out of a partially-suspended five-year sentence after pleading guilt to a charge of sexual exploitation of a minor, a Class B felony. The plea, which was entered in June, was part of an arranged sentence.
Earlier this year the victim in the case, a 14-year-old girl, informed her mother that she had sent pictures of herself to Allen at his request. Maine State Police began an investigation, recovering a number of digital messages, known as “texts,” which had been sent between cellphones belonging to the victim and Allen. Trooper Scott Dalton interviewed Allen, who admitted he had received pictures from the victim.
According to Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson, the victim in the case had been “reluctant” to testify Allen and didn’t believe anything inappropriate had happened.
“The victim doesn’t perceive herself as a victim in this matter,” Robinson said. The state, he went on to note, weighed the difficulty in proceeding to trial with a reluctant witness in making the joint recommendation with Allen’s defense.
Robinson also noted Allen’s lack of priors, as well as the nature of the sexual exploitation case; direct person-to-person transmission rather than distribution, which he described as a “nightmare scenario.”
Allen briefly addressed the court, apologizing for his actions.
“I just like to apologize for the harm I’ve done,” he said.
Allen will spend a year in prison, and will face two years of probation after his release. Conditions of his probation will include no contact with female minors, younger than the age of 18, without parental presence and consent. He will need to continue counseling, services which he has begun.
As a non-violent sex offender, with no record, Allen will register with the sex offender registry for 10 years.
Justice Michaela Murphy, who called a recess to review statements made by the victim and her mother, accepted the agreement “reluctantly.” The mother of the victim, as noted by Robinson, opposed the plea arrangement and felt Allen should have gotten a longer sentence. According to the mother, the dispute with her daughter over the incident had driven a wedge between them.
“I certainly can tell that this is difficult for the mother,” Murphy said. She accepted the arrangement, echoing the issues raised by Robinson regarding the viability of the state’s case.
Same Joshua Allen??
The brazen theft of drugs from a police storage facility has caught up with two men in Farmington who were arrested Friday.
The two are accused of breaking into the Farmington storage garage Sept. 8 and stealing several hundred marijuana plants that had been seized in Phillips the day before.
The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, State Police and Farmington police followed up on tips from the public and obtained search warrants for homes in Farmington and New Sharon. Police found remnants of the stolen marijuana that included evidence tape on the stalks indicating where the pot had been seized initially, police said.
Police charged Todd Welch, 29, of New Sharon and Joshua Allen, 26, of Farmington with burglary, theft, falsifying evidence and criminal mischief.
same name—-different ages——-different towns.
No this Joshua Allen was incarcerated yesterday. Also note the age. This Joshua Allen is 29, the other is 26.
Parents beware!!
If your last name is Allen, find a different first name for your male children, this one is jinxed!