Nov. 29—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.
Witkowski retained Michael Naughton and Jesse Williams as his attorneys.
During the arraignment, Naughton asked Magistrate Tammi Rodgers to waive the formal reading of his client's charges. He also asked the magistrate to 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 he would need the waiver because there was a lot of evidence that he would need to comb through in 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 also 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 has 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. Previous records had 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.