AUGUSTA — A Florida man and an Augusta woman were sentenced Thursday to prison for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy while on a FaceTime video call.

Matthew J. Elston, 33, of Punta Gorda, Florida, was sentenced to eight years in prison in Kennebec County Superior Court after completing a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence he was serving in Florida for sex crimes. against another child in this situation.

Taylor R. Lewis, 29, of Augusta, was sentenced to three years in prison.

The couple, who assistant district attorney prosecutor Shannon Flaherty said were romantically involved, acted largely in accordance with a plan devised by Elston to have the boy meet Lewis in the parking lot of the Gardiner McDonald’s, where he sexually assaulted her.

This show was broadcast to Elston, who was watching via the Facetime video calling app from Florida at the time. He also recorded the video and later shared it with others. Flaherty said that in the shared FaceTime video, Elston masturbated and Lewis sexually assaulted the child.

In his statement read in court by a family friend, the victim said that the incident affected his mental health and turned him into a completely different person. This caused him to lash out against his peers and negatively impacted his other relationships, caused him to have PTSD and suicidal thoughts, prevented him from sleeping at night, and caused him to lose 50 pounds, the statement said. I can barely eat.

Both Elston and Lewis were charged with sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor; The most serious charge, sexual exploitation of a minor, was a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Elston was charged as an accessory to both of these charges because he did not physically participate in the sexual assault and was not even in Maine at the time. But Flaherty said Elston instigated the crime, was the master planner of the encounter, and that without his actions this incident would never have happened.

This, combined with Elston’s criminal record, which included other attacks on children, led to Elston being given an eight-year prison sentence by Superior Court Judge Michaela Murphy; None of these sentences were suspended.

Elston’s criminal record includes a March 2023 conviction in Florida on certain charges of unlawful sexual activity with a minor for performing a sexual act on a victim under the age of 18 in October 2022. -Half a year in prison, according to a spokesperson for the Florida State Attorney’s Office.

Lewis, who had no criminal record, was also sentenced to eight years in prison, but all but three of those years were suspended; This means he will only spend three years in prison if he fulfills the terms of the three-year probation. is released from prison.

Elston’s attorney, Lisa Whittier, requested that the Maine sentence be served concurrently with the remaining time of his sentence in Florida, but Murphy refused and imposed the sentence consecutively to the Florida sentence, stating that the crimes were completely different acts, committed by different victims and in different ways. states.

Elston, dressed in a green Kennebec County jail uniform and handcuffed with his hands on his hips, suddenly stood up and left the courtroom, escorted by a prison guard, as Murphy announced that his sentence would be served consecutively following his prison sentence in Florida. Murphy had finished announcing his sentence.

Early in court, Elston said he disagreed with how the state described the incident but would never take the case to a hearing where the victim would likely have to testify publicly about what happened to him.

Elston had her jaw broken by another inmate and was sexually assaulted while incarcerated in Florida, where prison guards did not protect inmates, Whittier said.

“I want the court to know that I do not believe I can ever return to the state of Maine,” said Elston, who was assaulted in prison in Florida. “I am stabbed, raped, jumped on every day. These are the consequences of my crimes.”

The victim’s mother told the court that her son’s sexual assault occurred at a time in his life when he was very vulnerable. As the case’s trial dates approached, she said, she could see him changing and engaging in risky behavior, including wrecking his car in an accident in Gardiner, before saying the situation was really bothering him.

He urged the court to ensure Elston serves his sentences consecutively.

“It’s clear that Matthew is a habitual pedophile, and if the court allows him to serve his sentences concurrently, it would send the message to my son that what happened to him didn’t matter,” she said.

The Kennebec Journal is not naming the victim or her mother because the newspaper’s policy is not to identify victims of sexual abuse without their permission.

Elston was also accused of disseminating sexually explicit material for sending the FaceTime video to others. Flaherty said Elston told people what he had done and they didn’t believe him, so he sent them the video.

Lewis’ attorney, Kayla Alves, said she was unaware that her encounter with the victim was being recorded or might be shared with others. The dissemination charge initially filed against Lewis was dropped by prosecutors.

Lewis admitted to having sexual intercourse with the boy after a family member of the victim questioned him about it, but said it was Elston’s idea.

Numerous friends and family members were in court to support Lewis, and Murphy said he received many letters from them saying Lewis was kind, helpful to them and a good person.

Alves said Lewis had been in a relationship with Elston since she was 16 and that he physically abused her and had sexually explicit photographs that he threatened to publish if she did not do what he wanted.

Alves said of Lewis and Elston: “She met him when he was a child and he started using her sexually.” “He has accepted responsibility. But overall we think Taylor’s story is more than this crime video. Taylor is a victim herself.”

Both Elston and Lewis will be required to register with the Maine Sex Offender Registry for the rest of their lives.

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