JCC Camp Counselor Convicted Of Child Porn Overdoses Day Before Sentence Begins
Matthew Kuppe, 22, has pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography. Image by Facebook
(JTA) — A former counselor at a JCC camp in suburban Detroit convicted of sharing pictures of nude boys online overdosed on drugs a day before he was scheduled to enter federal prison.
Matthew Kuppe, 22, was taken into federal custody on Friday, a day after he had been scheduled to enter prison and two days after he was found “unresponsive” in his home and taken to a hospital, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Kuppe pleaded guilty last August to posting photos of naked boys on a Russian website, including photos of three 5-year-old campers who were in his care. Kuppe used the handle “jcclockerroom” to post several photos of the naked boys.
He was sentenced in April to 10 years in federal prison. At the time of his sentencing, Kuppe was not taken into custody and the court allowed him to surrender at a later date and removed the requirement of wearing a GPS bracelet.
Kuppe, who had worked at the JCC of Metropolitan Detroit for two summers and at one point supervised its special-needs campers, was fired after JCC officials learned he was under investigation. Three other JCC employees later were fired for failing to alert senior management to concerns expressed about Kuppe in 2014.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
