Robert Dobbins
HAMPTON, Va. - A Hampton City employee is locked up in the Western Tidewater Regional Jail accused of distributing child pornography.
Records state the investigation into the city employee has been going on for months.
Robert Dobbins was arrested earlier this week.
Federal agents have been investigating a website since 2012 that is used to allegedly distribute child pornography. The website is unnamed in the federal documents and referred to as Website A.
Court records state authorities were watching Dobbins and alleged that they observed him in a Wastewater Management Utility vehicle.
Dobbins was convicted of receipt and possession of child pornography back in January 2005 in Military Court while he was employed by the Navy, according to the federal documents. He was sentenced to 60 days confinement and a bad conduct discharge. He is currently on the sex offender registry for the conviction from 2005.
Records state Dobbins works for the City of Hampton.
In court documents for the new allegations Dobbins told investigators that he “acknowledged accessing child pornography from his city-issued Samsung smartphone on WiFi using the internet.”
The records show Dobbins said his age of interest is girls between the ages of seven and eight and that he struggles with sexual issues and has a problem.
It goes on to state in the federal documents that he cut and pasted photographs from Facebook from his friends’ daughters in what he described as random life situations and reposted them on Website A, according to the federal documents.
He allegedly said “I know this is illegal, maybe it was about time for me for some serious help” and that he has a “dark demon side”.
The city of Hampton released a 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.
