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Ex-‘Survivor’ contestant faces child-porn charges

David Jesse
Detroit Free Press
Mike Skupin of the television series, "Survivor II: The Australian Outback."

DETROIT — A former Survivor contestant was charged Friday with six counts of child porn possession, five counts of larceny and one count of racketeering for running a Ponzi scheme.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced the charges Friday night against Michael Skupin of White Lake.

“Not only did this man rob people of their hard earned savings with his financial scams but he victimized innocent children every time he looked at a piece of child pornography,” Schuette said. “This man seems to have no concept or caring for right and wrong and will be prosecuted under the full extent of the law for these horrific crimes.”

Skupin, who appeared on Survivor: The Australian Outback and Survivor: Philippines, was arraigned Friday in District Court in Clarkston, according to a press release from Schuette's office.

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He is facing the following charges: six counts of possession of child sexual abusive materials, a four-year felony; five counts of larceny by conversion, a five-year felony; and one count of racketeering-conducting a criminal enterprise, a 20-year felony.

Bond was set at $350,000. If bond is met, Skupin must wear a GPS tether, cannot have any unsupervised visits with children or leave the state. Skupin will next appear in court for a pre-exam conference Feb. 19.

An investigation began into Skupin after victims from an alleged Ponzi scheme contacted a local news reporter, the press release said.

Skupin allegedly recruited investors and friends to take part in his "gifting scheme” called Pay It Forward. Victims allegedly made $10,000 cash investments in the scheme. Their money would then cycle through a chart in which participants were eventually paid out of other new investors’ money. The scheme was discovered when eventually there were no new investors signing up and most people in the scheme lost all of their money.

Skupin’s laptop was searched in conjunction with the Ponzi scheme investigation. During the search, investigators discovered images of underage children in sexual situations. The images are alleged to belong to Skupin.

In 2001's Survivor: The Australian Outback, Skupin stumbled, fell into a fire and was medically evacuated from the show.

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