BERKELEY — At 86, William Kolbe has put built up an extensive career as a researcher for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, with dozens of co-authored papers that have been cited by thousands.

He’s also allegedly been downloading child sexual abuse material for decades, onto encrypted hard drives on his home and work computer, apparently avoiding detection by either employers or law enforcement until this year.

Last September, the California Highway Patrol raided Kolbe’s Albany home, the culmination of an investigation that started in January 2024 with a look into secret peer-to-peer networks where child pornography was being shared. As police were seizing his electronic devices, Kolbe allegedly admitted that he’d been downloading child sexual abuse material for 30 years, said he’d b

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