October 12th, 2006
DA gets public reprimand for at-work porn surfing
Oh, the shame of it all. With a huge percentage of traffic on the Internet directed at porn sites, it's not surprisingly that professionals, seemingly beyond reproach, would get caught using their work computers for their extra-curricular activities.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court this week publicly reprimanded former assistant district attorney Todd Beatse, who spent hours at work looking at pornography and sending sexually explicit emails, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal.
To make matters even more unseemly, Beatse told his colleagues that his son was to blame for the pornographic images which he said were mistakenly transferred onto his computer via a memory stick borrowed form his son.
An investigation showed that Beatse had spent 36 hours browsing pornographic Internet sites during his last 29 days at work. Twelve of his 20 most visited sites were pornographic in nature. He had sent emails about his sexual activities and other inappropriate topics, including comments about the breasts of a court reporter, while he was suspended, the court said.
"We further agree that the repeated nature and seriousness of Attorney Beatse's misconduct warrants a public reprimand," the court said in adopting a recommendation from the Office of Lawyer Regulation.
Beatse said the case has led to his divorce and embarrassment. Beatse, who was fired by the county last year and set up a private practice in La Crosse, was ordered to pay $6,694 to cover the costs of the disciplinary proceedings.
He has received counseling to address his pornography addiction.
