PORTLAND, Maine — A Maine man who paid a trafficker in the Philippines to sexually abuse a child while he watched a livestream broadcast of the incident was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine, Joseph Daniel Zoll, 63, of Sanford, was also ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release after his term was completed.
On June 28, Zoll pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of children and one count for the distribution of a video depicting the sexual abuse of children, WCSH-TV reported.
Prosecutors said that Zoll “repeatedly” paid the trafficker to sexually abuse a minor during a two-year period and livestream it on a video chat platform, WMTW-TV reported. Zoll allegedly asked other traffickers to do the same and distributed a video that he had recorded from the trafficker in the Philippines, instructing them how to carry out the abuse, prosecutors said.
Police discovered the livestreams that were saved on electronic devices in Zoll’s home, WCSH reported.
“It is difficult to put into words the horror and pain experienced by the children abused at Zoll’s behest. Not only did he direct the sexual abuse of several children, he used the videos of that abuse to teach others how to do the same, equipping more predators with the tools to hurt children,” Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations in New England, said in a statement. “Today’s sentence puts Zoll behind bars and away from the means to abuse more children. We will continue to work alongside our partners in Maine and around the world to detect and end this type of sex trafficking.”
The case was prosecuted as part of the DOJ’s Project Safe Childhood, a campaign to address child sexual exploitation, WMTW reported.