Bitter Doctor Threatens to Kill Court Officials: Prosecutor

ROYAL OAK, MI — A Royal Oak physician accused of threatening to kill several court officials, including a county prosecutor and an ex-judge, is being held without bond on multiple felony charges, including terrorism.

Dr. Kumar Singh, 47, is accused of making numerous threats over the weekend on social media, by phone and by text message targeting Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, members of her staff, a bailiff, a retired judge and others, according to media reports.

Singh, the medical director at GreenLite medical marijuana clinic in Troy, was called as a witness in a criminal drug trial about three ago, and authorities alleged that he still holds a grudge against court officials for what he considers a tarnished reputation.

He was arraigned Wednesday before Royal Oak 44th District Judge Jamie Wittenberg on 22 charges, including false threat of terrorism; multiple terrorism counts of using a computer, the internet and telecommunications devices to commit a crime; and ethnic intimidation.

The judge also revoked Singh’s probation on a Sept. 7 conviction of reckless discharge of a firearm, which stemmed from an incident involving the discharge of an assault-style rifle at his Royal Oak apartment on July 16, according to reports.

All but one of the new charges against Singh are felonies. The ethnic intimidation charge stems from comments Singh allegedly made to the effect that he is brown-skinned, and was going to go after someone who was white.

Cooper has recused herself from the case, which will be prosecuted by Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton’s office.

“The doctor made threats over the internet, several different means, against a number of individuals in the criminal justice system — threatening to kill prosecutors, judges, attorneys involved, bailiffs in the courthouse and other people related to one of the assistant prosecutors,” Leyton told WWJ Radio.

A spokesman for Leyton’s office, Assistant Prosecutor John Potbury, told The Daily Tribune the first threats were allegedly made Friday night on an the Facebook page of a relative of one of the Oakland County assistant prosecutors.

“The postings were threatening her and her family for the harm he said the assistant prosecutor did to his reputation,” Potbury told the newspaper. “ ... He was blaming everyone for his professional reputation for being damaged.”

Singh was arrested Monday after a search warrant served on his residence by Royal Oak police turned up “weapons and other evidence,” Leyton said.

“The fact of the matter is that based upon evidence that we gathered, we perceive this to be a real threat, and we weren’t going to wait around to see what might transpire,” Leyton told WWJ. “ So we were proactive, and based on the evidence these charges have been issued.”

Singh is due back in court for a pre-exam at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 27.

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