HAMPTON, Va. (WVEC) -- A city employee with the wastewater management division who is a convicted sex offender is accused of distributing child pornography.
Federal court documents said that Robert Kenneth Dobbins acknowledged he accessed child porn using his city-issued smartphone.
The paperwork stated that Dobbins, 36, said his age of interest is girls ages 7 to 8 years old "engaging in sex acts." It went on to say that Dobbins told investigators he "struggles with sexual issues and has a problem."
The federal affidavit said that Dobbins admitted he cut and pasted photographs from Facebook of his friends' daughters, then uploaded the images to a photo-sharing website. He described the pictures as depicting "random life situations."
Investigators said the website, which has become a popular way for people to trade child pornography images, allowed people to comment on images.
While pictures Dobbins is accused of posting were not pornographic, comments which accompanied their albums included:
- "I've seen all of her tight little body. It's exquisite."
- "My friends cute daughter."
- "She's so cute with her little rump."
An undercover investigator with the Queensland Police Service in Australia reached out to Dobbins via email. Dobbins supposedly used the name "DEATHLYROSE55" on the website and responded to the email with the username "Poison Rose."
Referring to one of the girls in an album on the site, Dobbins is accused of writing:
"Yes I've been fortunate to have touched her. She's only thr3 and she's had her hand on my manhood without me doing anything to provoke it. I've squeezed her tight little butt and have watched her rub herself without knowing what she's doing."
The affidavit said that Dobbins sent a link to pornographic videos to the undercover investigators. The videos depicted a number of sexual acts being performed on children.
Dobbins appears on the Virginia State Police Sex Offender Registry. Dobbins, who was in the Navy, was convicted in a military court in 2005 of receipt and possession of child porn.
Spokesman for the City of Hampton Frederick Gaskins provided 13News Now with this statement:
Robert Dobbins has been employed with the City of Hampton since March 2005. His position as a pump station mechanic did not bring him into contact with the general public. The city has had no contact with Dobbins since his arrest.
Robert Kenneth Dobbins Affidavit by 13News Now on Scribd
