Former lab tech at UW-Milwaukee accused of possessing child porn pleads not guilty
Jay Dobberke
MILWAUKEE -- Jay Dobberke, 63, a former lab tech for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), facing 10 felony counts of possession of child pornography, pleaded not guilty Tuesday, May 21.
Dobberke waived his preliminary hearing on Tuesday. Probable cause was found for further proceedings, and he was bound over for trial. A scheduling conference was set for June 13.
According to the criminal complaint, Milwaukee police were assigned a CyberTip that indicated on Feb. 13, a subject "had viewed an image that depicted child pornography on the search engine 'Bing.'" Investigators determined the "IP address came from an IP range assigned to the Physics Building" at UWM -- and specifically "assigned to a device that was being used by" Dobberke.
The complaint said investigators got in contact with UWM officials -- and learned "for an IP address to be assigned in the Physics Building range, it has to be physically plugged into a wall jack." They also determined the device and its IP address were located in a specific room of the Physics Building.
Physics building at UW-Milwaukee
A search warrant was executed on the room in question on April 26. The complaint said officers "located numerous VHS tapes, DVDs, and a computer tower" in addition to adult pornographic magazines. They also found "handwritten documents with the names of women and references to young girls." All of this was found in Dobberke's work space, the complaint said. An initial scan of the computer tower turned up "10 images of child pornography as well as child porn related searches in (Dobberke's) search history."
Jay Dobberke
When confronted with the allegations, Dobberke had this to say...
"What allegations?" Dobberke said. "I don't know anything about it, so I am not going to say anything."
This was the third felony arrest involving staff at UWM in just three months. In March, former lecturer Dennis Tomashek was also suspected of possessing child pornography -- and former professor Anthony Azenabor was suspected of abusing his position and sexually assaulting students.
Again, UWM officials said Dobberke was a lab tech at the school -- not a professor. They said his last day on the job was May 10. Officials said they could not comment on a pending criminal matter. However, they said "student safety is a top priority" and they do their best to "ensure students and staff have a safe and supportive environment in which to learn and work."
Jay Dobberke