A former Tech Athletics trainer was arrested on child pornography charges Oct. 21 in Cookeville, according to a Putnam County grand jury indictment.
Upton Dabney Jr., 43, of Briarwood Street, was arrested Friday afternoon by Putnam County Sherriff’s Deputy Tory Womack and booked into the Putnam County jail, where bond was set at $10,000.
The case was investigated by Cookeville Police Detective Sgt. Yvette Demming. The indictment charges Dabney with sexual exploitation of a minor and aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, both stemming from 2009.
According to the indictment, between June 8 and July 14, 2009, Dabney “knowingly possessed over 100 images or material that includes a minor engaged in sexual activity.” Dabney also allegedly intended to distribute or exchange material that includes a minor engaged in sexual activity.
Dabney posted bail the same day of his arrest and he is scheduled to appear in the Putnam County Criminal Court Nov. 15.
Cookeville Police led the investigation in conjunction with Internet Crimes Against Children, a multi-agency unit in which detectives monitor internet sites for evidence of crime against children.
Dabney was an athletic trainer at Tech from 2008 to spring 2011. Before that, he was a sports medicine employee at Oregon Tech University.
Dabney is a graduate of East High School in Morristown, Tenn., and he earned a degree from Fountainhead College of Technology in Knoxville, Tenn.
