A 69-year-old Janesville man was arrested on 10 counts of possessing child pornography after an investigation that began with CyberTipline referrals, according to police. Ross Kirchner was taken to the Rock County Sheriff's Office, where he was being held pending an initial court appearance.
Janesville police said, according to the Janesville Police Department, that the investigation began in August 2025 after the department's Detective Bureau received multiple cyber tips from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The tips led investigators to examine suspected child exploitation connected to the Janesville area.
How Investigators Zeroed In On a Suspect
Police said investigators obtained and served several search warrants and subpoenas directed to internet and electronic service providers. The department said those investigative steps helped identify Kirchner as a suspect.
The department said members of its Street Crimes Unit and Detective Bureau later arrested Kirchner. Police also seized three cellphones as evidence.
What CyberTipline referrals mean
According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the CyberTipline identified and escalated more than 53,000 reports to law enforcement in 2025 because they were urgent or involved a child in imminent danger. More than 2 million reports resolved to the United States that year, including reports from all 50 states and U.S. territories. Those figures are referrals for possible investigation, not counts of arrests or confirmed offenses, and the cited national data do not provide a Wisconsin-specific total. NCMEC says its staff review CyberTipline submissions and work to identify a potential location before making the information available to the appropriate law-enforcement agency for possible investigation. In this case, Janesville police said the referrals led to their investigation.
What is known about the charges
Kirchner was arrested on 10 counts of possession of child pornography, according to the Janesville Police Department. The available report does not provide additional details about the statute or its language.
Details about Kirchner's attorney, any plea, bond conditions, or the outcome of his initial court appearance have not been released. For now, he remains held at the Rock County Sheriff's Office as the case moves through the early stages of the legal process.
