Judge Blomme Arrested On Child Pornography Charges

Brett Blomme. Photo from the candidate’s website.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced the arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Brett Blomme on tentative child pornography charges Tuesday afternoon.

Blomme, 38, was first elected to a six-year term as judge in April 2020. Running as a liberal challenger, Blomme defeated Scott Walker appointee Paul Dedinsky. He took his seat on the bench in August and most recently was assigned to children’s court.

The judge previously served as the president and CEO of the Cream City Foundation from 2017 until his election. He also held the part-time position as head of the City of Milwaukee Board of Zoning Appeals after being appointed by Mayor Tom Barrett in 2019.

Bloome was arrested following “an investigation into multiple uploads of child pornography through a Kik messaging application account in October and November 2020,” said Kaul in his release. The Kik platform is a free messaging platform popular with teenagers.

“Kik is the problem app of the moment,” said the head of Ohio’s crimes against children task force in 2016 as part of a New York Times exposé into problems with child exploitation through the app.

But according to a 51-page affidavit, it was Kik that turned Blomme in to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

The company reported that “DomMasterBB” was sharing videos with other users through private messages via an internet connection later associated with a Milwaukee County government building.

Law enforcement agents searched Blomme’s homes in Milwaukee and Dane counties as well his chambers and vehicle. Blomme’s husband, Christopher Verhaeghe, and the couple’s two kids live in Cottage Grove. Verhaeghe works for UW-Madison as the assistant director of orientations. The couple also owns a home in Milwaukee’s Lenox Heights neighborhood, where Blomme reports living full time.

The affidavit, based on data from Kik and internet service providers, alleges that Blomme uploaded 27 videos total from both of his houses, a county-owned facility, a house in St. Francis and from his personal cell phone. Blomme communicated via email with the unidentified resident of the St. Francis house in the months following the uploads in a nature that the affidavit describes as “personal.”

The affidavit does not allege that Blomme created any of the videos and descriptions, based on gender and race, of the minors in the videos do not align with his children in every case.

Kaul announced that a criminal complaint was expected to be filed on March 17th. Blomme is innocent until proven guilty.

“This investigation was led by the Wisconsin DOJ DCI, with assistance from investigators with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office. Special assistance was received from the following agencies in executing the search warrants: Wauwatosa PD; Cottage Grove PD; Racine County Sheriff; Brookfield PD; Waukesha County Sheriff; and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension,” said Kaul in his release.

Urban Milwaukee is not uploading the affidavit because it includes explicit descriptions of sexual acts with minors.