Convicted Raleigh man had more than 300 child-porn images on work laptop, DOJ says

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (WTVD) -- A federal jury convicted a Raleigh man on Tuesday who reportedly had more than 300 images of child pornography on a work laptop.

Joseph Matthew Dobbs, 45, was convicted of possession of child sexual abuse material. He faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison when sentenced in July.

According to court records and trial evidence, Dobbs was working from home as an IT support engineer when, in early November 2022, a supervisor remotely saw Dobbs watching content on his work-issued laptop that appeared to be child sexual abuse material.

The company fired Dobbs and forwarded screenshots taken by the supervisor to law enforcement officials.

ALSO SEE | Standoff ends peacefully after suspect wanted on several warrants surrenders to Raleigh police

The Raleigh Police Department then executed a search at Dobbs's apartment and seized the company laptop.

A review of the laptop and the company's back-up servers showed that the computer contained more than 300 image files of child sexual abuse material, including the sexual abuse of infants and toddlers and depictions of bondage.

It wasn't Dobbs' first run-in with the law. In 2006, he was convicted of having carnal knowledge of a child, three counts of using a computer to solicit a minor, 10 counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, and manufacturing sexually explicit material in Virginia.

He spent seven years in prison and was still on probation for those offenses when the 2022 incident happened.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assisted Raleigh Police with the investigation.

ABC11 is tracking crime and safety across Raleigh and in your neighborhood