Portland man sentenced to 12 years in prison for child sex abuse material

Nov. 20—A Portland man was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for engaging in sexually explicit conversations online with a minor with whom he planned to meet out of state.

Joshua Decker, 36, pleaded guilty in July to one count of possession of child pornography and one count of seduction of a minor and was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland. He was also sentenced to life in prison with parole.

According to court records, Decker began talking to a 16-year-old boy in Oregon on an online chat forum in late 2022. Their conversations later moved to Skype and Snapchat, where prosecutors said they became sexually graphic. Eventually, Decker began discussing plans to visit the teen, who prosecutors did not identify.

In July 2023, Portland police executed a search warrant at Decker’s home and found a Sky Tablet in his car containing a video of a girl under 12 being sexually abused. Police said they found the video in the tablet’s “trash” folder, but it was still accessible.

A victim impact statement submitted before Decker’s sentencing was not made public Wednesday. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine said Tuesday that there has been an “alarming 300% increase” in online seduction.

In court records, Decker’s public defender said he acknowledged the behavior, that the crime was serious and that Decker was seeking treatment. Decker spoke of an abusive childhood. He struggled with housing instability and substance use disorder stemming from an opioid prescription he received when he was 16.

Decker was previously convicted in Androscoggin County Criminal Court in 2018 of possession of sexually explicit material intended for a child under 12.

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