Traverse City man charged after alleged secret recording of juvenile

A Traverse City man is facing felony charges after Michigan State Police said he used a cellphone to secretly record a juvenile inside a private area of a home, a case that now moves toward a May 26 court hearing in Grand Traverse County.

Joseph Osborne, 43, was arrested and arraigned May 12 in Grand Traverse County’s 86th District Court. Prosecutors authorized charges after state police submitted the investigation to the Grand Traverse County Prosecutor’s Office. Osborne is charged with one count of using a computer to commit a crime and two counts of capturing or distributing an image of an unclothed person. Bond was set at $25,000 cash or surety.

Investigators began looking into the allegations in February after troopers at the MSP Traverse City Post received a complaint. Police said a preliminary investigation indicated Osborne used his cell phone to record a juvenile in a private area of a home. The child has not been identified.

The case sits at the intersection of child-safety concerns, digital privacy and criminal law. Michigan law bars using a computer, computer system or computer network to commit, attempt, conspire to commit or solicit another crime. A separate statute, MCL 750.539j, makes it a felony to surveil or record someone in a state of undress when that person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, and it also prohibits distributing that image. Under that law, a violation can bring up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The Grand Traverse County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has said its job is to represent the people of Michigan in criminal prosecutions in both district and circuit court. In this case, the next step is set for 2 p.m. May 26 in 86th District Court, where Osborne’s case will continue as prosecutors and defense attorneys begin working through the evidence and the charges.

The allegations recall another Traverse City privacy case that drew widespread attention in July 2024, when former downtown coffee shop owner Edward Witkowski was sentenced to four to seven years in prison after pleading no contest to secretly recording women in a bathroom. That case included three counts of capturing or distributing an image of an unclothed person and one count of using a computer to commit a crime, underscoring how seriously local courts have treated hidden-recording cases tied to privacy violations.