A former Minnesota judge was sentenced on Wednesday to nine years in prison for distributing explicit pictures which showed adults sexually abusing children.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin said in a statement that Milwaukee County Children’s Court Judge Brett Blomme, 39, used the online messaging app Kik to distribute 27 images depicting child pyrography. In addition to the pictures showing children being sexually abused, Blomme sent photos of prepubescent children posing in sexually-explicit poses and performing sex acts on adults.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation was tipped off about the 27 illicit images in late January. The Kik account which sent the pictures was registered to a personal email account that was linked to Blomme, federal prosecutors said.

“Subscriber information associated with the IP addresses showed Blomme distributed child pornography from his house in Cottage Grove, a residence in the Milwaukee area, and the Milwaukee County Children’s Court Center where he worked,” the statement detailed.

Investigators searched electronic devices at Blomme’s home and discovered multiple text messages between the then-judge and other people about Blomme’s sexual attraction to children.

During his sentencing, Blomme apologized for “re-victimizing” the abused young children and toddlers in the pictures he shared online.

“I was drinking almost every night. I was obsessed by technology and social media,” he said, according to WITI. “I was filling my emptiness with these images and videos, in an attempt to make myself whole, and it did not work.”

On September 28, Blomme pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography. Blomme will be on supervised release for 20 years after completing his nine-year prison sentence.

WITI reported that Blomme’s law license is suspended and is in the process of being surrendered following his conviction. The ex-judge still faces child pornography in state court. That case is pending, but it is expected to be dismissed following his conviction in federal court.

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[Featured image: Brett Blomme/Dane County Sheriff’s Office]

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