Jewish Center camp counselor gets 10 years for child porn

By Tresa Baldas
Detroit Free Press
April 11, 2017

http://www.freep.com/story/news/2017/04/11/reluctant-judge-sends-jewish-camp-counselor-prison-child-porn/100327374/

Matthew Kuppe, a former counselor at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield, was sentenced April 11, 2017 on child pornography charges.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that  out of the dozens of photos of nude boys found on the camp counselor's iPhone and iPad, 16 of them were actually taken at the camp. 

A child pornography case that fueled parental outrage and  fears in West Bloomfield ended today with a federal judge sentencing a camp counselor to 10 years in prison for filming young boys in a locker room and posting their nude photos on a Russian website.

But the judge handed down the punishment grudgingly.

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn expressed frustration, saying he was locked into handing down the sentence because of a plea deal prosecutors worked out, and that the sentence was too long.  He also set the defendant free after the hearing —  his tether was ordered removed and home confinement was ended — and gave him two months to get his affairs in order before reporting to prison.

"It is clear to me in the 37 years (that) I have been a judge — this case does not represent one of the government's finest hours," said Cohn, who also criticized the media, calling its coverage of the case "highly inflammatory."

Cohn also blasted the U.S. Attorneys office for how it portrayed the defendant: Matthew Kuppe, 21, of West Bloomfield, a former camp counselor at the Jewish Community Center who was arrested in August 2015 after the Department of Homeland Security uncovered dozens of nude photographs of young boys on his cellular devices, 16 of which were taken at the camp.

Federal prosecutors sought to keep Kuppe locked up pending the outcome of the case.  But Cohn eventually granted him bond.

"The office initiated a major effort to keep defendant under lock and key, as representing a danger to the local community. He was being treated as a child molester and there was no evidence then, nor has there been any evidence since, to even suspect him of child molestation, and the case was investigated thoroughly," Cohn  said in court Tuesday.

Cohn also criticized the sentencing guidelines in the case, saying they are  "widely off the mark" and cut off his discretion.

"No rational system of sentencing — considering precisely what the defendant did and defendant's particular characteristics —  would impose on him imprisonment for 10 years," Cohn said.

Cohn's actions and words sent  the victims' families reeling, as they have long argued that Cohn is more sympathetic to the defendant than his victims.

"This judge has unilaterally taken it upon himself to determine that Mr. Kuppe is no threat to the children and family in the community. In addition, he continues to show empathy and concern towards the perpetrator and his family, and none towards the victims — an attitude and opinion he has injected throughout this ordeal," the victims' families said in a joint statement today.

Attorney Bill Seikaly, who represents the families, agreed.

"The judge demonstrated great concern for the defendant ... in this case and none for the victims," Seikaly said. "(Cohn) indicated that there was no evidence that this was any more than picture taking, and no evidence that any child had been touched. He seems to have either forgotten or ignored that the defendant admitted on the dark web that he did, in fact, touch these children."

In court, Kuppe apologized for his actions.

"I want to apologize for my behavior that has brought us here today," Kuppe said. "One thing that I know for sure is that I'm a different person than I was 17 months ago. When I was young, I started having confusing and unwanted thoughts that I didn't understand. I didn't ask for these thoughts. I didn't understand how to deal with them. I was struggling with myself."

Kuppe thanked Cohn for granting him bond, saying it gave him to the chance to get help, better understand himself and learn how "to avoid unwanted thoughts."

"I have learned so much already that I can say without hesitation that nothing like this will ever happen again," Kuppe said.

Kuppe was fired in 2015 after JCC of Metropolitan Detroit administrators discovered he was being investigated for suspected abuse. Three employees also were fired after it was learned that supervisors at the day camp failed to alert senior management that an employee had expressed concerns about Kuppe in summer 2014.

Kuppe pleaded guilty only to distributing photos of nude children on the Internet, including three 5-year-old campers he oversaw. In exchange for his plea, the more serious charge of producing child pornography was dropped. The case ignited controversy, especially when Kuppe was released on bond, triggering an outcry of disgust among parents who felt he should have remained locked up.

In releasing him on bond, Cohn conceded that while the charges Kuppe faced were "extremely serious," they were not violent crimes, nor did they involve drugs — both of which are factors in deciding whether someone is a danger to the community.

Cohn also stated in his ruling that the children photographed in this case "were not engaged with other persons and ... did not know that they were being photographed." He also took into account Kuppe's personal history: He had no criminal record

But that changed in the summer of 2015, argued prosecutors, when Kuppe was charged. They said Kuppe deserved a serious punishment for abusing children he was entrusted to look out for.

"I think the reason that there was so much press attention in this case is because the defendant was a camp counselor and because it was in that position that he committed his crime, and that is something that everyone responds to because everyone who has children is afraid that when their children are at school or at camp that they could be harmed," Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Woodward said in court Tuesday, calling the 10-year sentence "fair" and "appropriate."

Meanwhile, the parents of Kuppe's victims are trying to move on. Three of them spoke in court Tuesday, stressing it was imperative to make their voices heard in what one parent described as "an awful and ongoing experience."

"Our entire family has been victimized by you. Both of our boys had to be interviewed by Homeland Security about what a 'bad guy' at camp did.  They lost much of their innocence because of you.  At any point in their lives, these photographs may pop up on a computer screen and bring it all back to them," one parent said. "As parents, we are still affected almost every day, and any person that even slightly resembles the defendant makes me uncomfortable and nervous. I have to do a double-take and reassure myself that it is, in fact, not him.  I now have to constantly remind myself not to be uncomfortable with male caregivers, teachers, counselors, etc. ... I am always on guard, I am never completely comfortable."

Other parents echoed those sentiments in a joint statement that read: "As parents, the sentence handed down by the court today is only a first step in the long journey of trying to mend the devastation that Matthew Kuppe, an apparent pedophile, has had on our sons' and families' lives. We are not able to undo the harm done to our children, but it is important for us to remind our community of these events.  We do so in the hope that no other children and families go through what we must forever endure."