TRAVERSE CITY — The owner of the downtown coffee shop Morsels was arraigned on five obscenity felony counts Wednesday morning.
A few conditions of his bond were modified during those court proceedings.
Edward Witkowski, 49, was arrested earlier this month after police executed search warrants at his home and his business.
He’s charged with one count of using a computer to commit a crime, three counts of capturing/distributing images of an unclothed person and one count of lying to a police officer.
During those searches, police reports detail that they found more than a dozen electronic devices and three videos of unclothed women inside the Morsels bathroom.
At one point, the video arraignment attracted 52 viewers.
Witkowski retained Michael Naughton and Jesse Williams as his lawyers.
During the hearing, Naughton asked Magistrate Tammi Rodgers to waive the formal reading of his client’s charges.
He also asked the magistrate if he could waive his client’s right to a speedy preliminary examination, which is commonly referred to as the “21-day rule” in the legal system.
Naughton said that he would need the waiver because there was a lot of evidence that he would need to comb through on this case. “I have some of the discovery, but I don’t believe that I have all of it,” he said. “I think this is going to be intensive. We need at least 90 days to look at this.”
Naughton asked for Rodgers to reconsider some elements of Witkowski’s bond.
According to his original bond conditions, Witkowski was not allowed to use the internet, enter Morsels or use a cellphone with web surfing or video recording capabilities.
“I have concerns about that,” Naughton said during the arraignment. “I need to be able to communicate with my client. If he has no access to the phone or the internet — we simply can’t communicate.”
He then advocated for Witkowski to be able to go back inside the business. The coffee shop is currently listed as “temporarily closed” on its Facebook page. It is unclear when, or if, it will reopen.
“I do think it’s appropriate for him to go to the business, do inventory, button things up and secure that,” Naughton said in court. “He doesn’t need to have access to any employees in order to do so.”
Rodgers agreed and said Witkowski was allowed to go back inside the business as long as he had no contact with any of the alleged victims, any employees or any person under the age of 18.
The only person he’s allowed to be in the building with is his co-owner, according to the magistrate.
Witkowski and Naughton both said there is no co-owner to Morsels.
Previous records indicated that Witkowski co-owned the business with his wife at that time. Former employees also said she was a co-owner of the business.
Rodgers said Witkowski will be allowed to use the internet to access and review business records that may be online, such as bank records, accounting information and utilities.
At this point, Witkowski can use a cellphone, with no camera or internet, or a landline to communicate with his legal counsel and other people who are not listed in the warrants or the bond documents. He also is permitted to use email for the same reason.
Witkowski’s next scheduled court dates are a probable cause hearing at 2 p.m. Jan. 4 and his preliminary examination at 11 a.m. Jan. 11 in 86th District Court in Traverse City.