Detroit JCC Camp Counselor Pleads Guilty to Child Porn

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
— A former JCC camp counselor in suburban Detroit charged with creating and distributing child pornography has entered into a plea agreement.
In the case of Matthew Kuppe, 21, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office told the Detroit News she could not discuss the agreement. The spokeswoman, Gina Balaya, did confirm an Aug. 4 hearing date in U.S. District Court.
Kuppe, who was released on bond in November, allegedly took photos of naked boys in the locker room of the JCC of Metropolitan Detroit in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and shared them on a Russian website. He worked as a counselor at the Jewish community center’s day camp for two years, but was fired immediately following his arrest in August 2015.
The JCC also dismissed three supervisors who failed to notify senior management after an employee voiced concerns about Kuppe’s conduct.
Kuppe reportedly could have faced 20 years in prison.
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