Brett Blomme appears in a still frame taken from a Facebook campaign video.
A former Wisconsin juvenile court judge pleaded guilty in federal court this week to two counts of distributing child pornography. Brett Blomme, 39, entered the plea in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
The former state court judge admitted to two counts of distributing child pornography. His plea agreement explains the punishment:
The defendant agrees to plead guilty to the indictment in this case. Counts 1 and 2 of the indictment charge violations of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(2). Each count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and five years of supervised release, as well as maximum penalties of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, a lifetime period of supervised release, a $5,000 assessment pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3014(a) (if the Court finds the defendant is not indigent), a mandatory $100 special assessment, and the entry of an appropriate restitution order pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2259(b)(2)(B). In addition to these maximum penalties, any violation of a supervised release term could lead to an additional term of imprisonment pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3583. The defendant agrees to pay the special assessment at or before sentencing. The defendant understands that the Court will enter an order pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3013 requiring the immediate payment of the special assessment. In an appropriate case, the defendant could be held in contempt of court and receive an additional sentence for failing to pay the special assessment as ordered by the Court.
Because Blomme agreed to plead guilty, prosecutors agreed to recommend the “maximum available reduction” in sentence, the document points out.
The federal court plea purports to settle an outstanding list of charges Blomme also faces in state court:
The United States agrees that these two guilty pleas will completely resolve all possible federal and state criminal violations that have occurred in the Western District of Wisconsin provided that both of the following conditions are met: (a) the criminal conduct relates to the conduct described in the indictment; and (b) the criminal conduct was known to the United States and the State of Wisconsin as of the date of this plea agreement.
In the signature block of the document, a representative from the Wisconsin Department of Justice indicated that “the State of Wisconsin agrees to dismiss all pending charges against defendant Blomme in Dane County Case No. 2021-CF-0647 if defendant Blomme pleads and is convicted and sentenced in accordance with this plea and settlement agreement.”
Brett Blomme appears in a mugshot obtained from the Dane County, Wisconsin jail.
The plea agreement further requires Blomme to pay restitution — which the document says could require liquidating his assets — and to forfeit his iPhone. Again, from the document:
The defendant agrees not to file a claim to the asset listed in the forfeiture allegation in the indictment. This asset is described as a gray Apple iPhone with a yellow protective cover, serial number F17CDZABN6XR. The defendant agrees to waive all time limits and his right to notice of any forfeiture proceeding involving this property. The defendant further agrees not to file a claim or assist others in filing a claim or attempting to establish an interest in any forfeiture proceeding.
The defendant acknowledges that he used the Apple iPhone listed in indictment’s forfeiture allegation to distribute sexually explicit images of children on Kik Messenger, as described in Counts 1 and 2 of the indictment.
As Law&Crime previously reported, a criminal complaint filed in state court in Dane County, Wisconsin, said the case unraveled when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a “CyberTip” that someone with the account name “DomMasterBB” used Kik, a messaging application, to upload “images and videos consistent with child pornography through the application on 27 separate occasions in October and November of 2020.” The account was registered under a gmail address containing Blomme’s first and last names, the document further indicated.
The criminal complaint document further suggested that Blomme had uploaded the images from government buildings as well as from his home in Cottage Grove, Wis.:
Kik . . . provided several different Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that were used by “dommasterbb” to upload and share the images and videos. Through queries with American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), [a special agent] discovered that two of the IP addresses were provided by a Milwaukee County government building, one IP address was provided by Charter Communications, one IP address was provided by AT&T, and two IP addresses were provided by Verizon Wireless.
A federal sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 22.
Blomme became a judge in Aug. 2020. He ran for office as a progressive alternative who challenged a judge appointed by former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R).
Read the plea agreement below:
The post Former Wisconsin Juvenile Court Judge Pleads Guilty to Distributing Child Pornography first appeared on Law & Crime.