No Local Charge Against Ex- Counselor Accused of Abusing, Taking Nude Photos of Kids

Local charges won’t be filed against a West Bloomfield man facing federal pornography charges after he was accused of abusing and taking graphic photos of young children at a Jewish summer camp.

The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office declined to press charges against Matthew Kuppe, 21, who is being held without bond in the federal case, the Detroit Free Press reports.

West Bloomfield Police Chief Michael Patton told the newspaper that investigators found no evidence of wrongdoing when they interviewed potential victims and their parents, but submitted their findings to the prosecutor’s office for review.

Earlier on This Topic

• West Bloomfield Camp Counselor Faces Child Porn Charges
• Child Porn Allegations Against West Bloomfield Camp Counselor Surfaced in 2014

“The federal government doesn’t have any molestation charges or anything like that, so you have to look at that from a state level,” Patton said. “We’ve looked at all the facts and evidence we had and didn’t see anything that would lead us to believe he committed any state level violations, so there will be no state law charges.”

The West Bloomfield Police Department expanded its investigation after disclosures in August after disclosures that the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit been informed of some of the allegations against Michael Kuppe, 21, of West Bloomfield, as early as 2014.

Federal authorities allege Kuppe abused several children, had graphic conversations with them and then shared nude photos he had taken in a folder marked “Jewish boys” on Internet sharing website based in Russia.

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn on Wednesday delayed a ruling on a motion by Kuppe’s defense attorney, Walter Piszczatowski seeking his client’s release to his parents’ custody.

Piszczatowski has argued that Kuppe has deep ties to the community and should be released to the custody of his parents, Richard and Linda Kuppe. Kuppe is a college student with no criminal history, according to court records.

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“We have lived in the same home since Matthew was four years old,” Richard Kuppe wrote in a sworn affidavit. “Other than the three years ,he has lived in a dormitory at MSU, he has lived with us his entire life. My wife and I run our business out of our home. One of us can be physically present in the home at virtually all hours of the day and night.”

However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Woodward has described the case as “every parent’s nightmare.” The photos shared online can never be retrieved, she said.