A 27-year-old Milwaukee man already jailed on strangulation and battery charges is now accused of using a county jail tablet to pressure his victim into dropping the case against him, piling on to a mounting controversy over what inmates can do with the devices Milwaukee County hands them. Damian Cosme-Torres was charged with one felony count of intimidating a victim and one misdemeanor count of contempt of court after a criminal complaint was filed on September 21, according to court records.
The case traces back to a January incident in which the victim, a 19-year-old, reported that Cosme-Torres strangled her, grabbed her by the neck and slammed her head against a wall multiple times, and took her phone when she tried to call 911, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The victim had reported physical abuse dating back to September 2025, the newspaper reported. Cosme-Torres was held at the Milwaukee County Jail on three domestic-abuse-related charges, including strangulation, suffocation and battery, on a $3,000 bond.
Calls, Tablet Messages and a Recantation
Once in custody, Cosme-Torres allegedly began making phone calls and sending tablet messages to the victim, asking her to stop assisting the prosecution, per the Journal Sentinel's reporting. Investigators identified more than 2,400 calls to the victim's phone over five months, and the victim eventually blocked the Milwaukee County Criminal Justice Facility's number, according to the same account. When the victim spoke with the district attorney's office on April 9, she recanted her previous statements, telling prosecutors that the defendant did not hurt her and that she did not feel intimidated, the newspaper reported.
Prosecutors say Cosme-Torres also called third parties who relayed messages to the victim on his behalf, and that his communications grew more disturbing as the case dragged on. According to CBS 58, his messages became more violent over time, and he allegedly threatened to harm himself or the victim, threatened to harm the victim and her family, threatened suicide in recorded calls and tablet messages, and threatened to publish intimate images of the victim. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office continued monitoring his phone calls and tablet messages throughout, per the Journal Sentinel's account.
A Judge's Pointed Question About Jail Technology
The case has amplified criticism already aimed at Milwaukee County's jail tablet program. At an August 28 bail hearing, Judge David Borowski condemned the county's tablet-access policy, asking, according to the Journal Sentinel, why the sheriff's department is giving laptops and iPads to defendants charged in homicides, or to any defendants at all. Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Tiffany's campaign has since used Borowski's criticism in campaign advertisements, the paper reported.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office has pushed back on some of the framing around the devices, clarifying that the tablets are provided by ICSolutions, not iPads. According to WISN, the tablets can only be used for messaging and cannot be used for phone or video calls, and they run on a closed-loop network limited to pre-approved law-library material, educational courses, movies and music with no internet access. The sheriff's office says the devices are funded by fees paid by jail occupants and their families, not by taxpayer dollars or the county budget, and that occupants can only use tablets to contact people with verified accounts who accept the contact.
The county executive's office says the tablets support rehabilitation and community reentry, per the same account. County Executive David Crowley approved new jail technology in 2022 and then approved a three-year extension of the jail communications contract in 2025, securing the tablets' use through March 2028, the station reported.
Not the First Alleged Abuse of the System
Cosme-Torres is at least the second Milwaukee County Jail occupant accused this year of using the devices to reach victims or witnesses. Amier Jones Jr. faced additional criminal charges after he was accused of breaking a no-contact order and attempting to contact a stalking victim more than 1,500 times, urging her to recant her statements to investigators, according to WISN. Investigators with WTMJ documented more than 130 attempted contacts with that victim over roughly a 10-day span, and prosecutors later alleged the total reached more than 1,500 attempted contacts using jail communication devices, with about 300 of those calls answered. A judge denied prosecutors' requests to revoke Jones's jail communication privileges and increase his cash bail at a May 7 hearing, WTMJ reported, though the sheriff's office ultimately had his communication privileges revoked and his access to attorney-client contact restricted after the alleged messages, per WISN.
A separate case described by Heartland Post involved Thomas S. Zollicoffer, charged with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide, who allegedly used his jail tablet to send a witness a message telling them to stop lying and warning that they will pay. Judge Borowski responded by revoking Zollicoffer's phone, visitation, mail and device privileges, aside from contact with his attorney, and ordering him isolated. The tablet program has since drawn scrutiny beyond Wisconsin, with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform sending a letter dated September 4 stating it was conducting oversight of the Milwaukee County Jail's inmate tablet system.
What Comes Next
Cosme-Torres is scheduled to appear in Milwaukee County court at 2 p.m. on October 29 for both an initial appearance on the witness intimidation charge and a plea and sentencing hearing in the underlying domestic violence case, according to the Journal Sentinel. The sheriff's office says it investigates concerning communications flagged through the tablet system and pursues consequences for violations, though how the current allegations against Cosme-Torres will factor into that October court date remains to be seen.
