Waterford youth baseball umpire held on federal child pornography charges
Kevin Charles Cathcart, 57, of Waterford, is accused in a federal complaint of distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material. A magistrate ordered him held until a preliminary exam Oct. 29.
By OCJ Staff
A Waterford man who umpires youth baseball games is being held on federal charges of distributing and possessing child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Kevin Charles Cathcart, 57, appeared Monday, Oct. 19, in federal court in Detroit, where U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly Altman ordered him detained, The Oakland Press reported. His preliminary exam is set for 1 p.m. Oct. 29 in Detroit, WDIV/ClickOnDetroit reported. The charges are accusations, and Cathcart is presumed innocent.
Federal prosecutors say Cathcart has umpired games in the Waterford area, including Little League games run through the Waterford Coaches Association, and volunteers in youth hockey. The U.S. Attorney's Office said it does not know of any allegations of misconduct tied to his work as an umpire or in youth hockey, according to FOX 2, CBS Detroit and The Oakland Press.
What the complaint alleges
The criminal complaint was filed Oct. 13, WDIV reported. It describes two separate lines of investigation:
- Undercover chat. In March 2026, an undercover Homeland Security Investigations agent received two videos showing the sexual abuse of young boys from a Telegram account that investigators later tied to Cathcart, according to the complaint as described by WDIV.
- FBI interview and dating-site messages. A person interviewed by the FBI in a separate investigation told agents that a man named "Kevin" had met the person for sex, watched abuse material with the person and claimed to be a Little League umpire, WDIV reported. Agents also obtained dating-site messages they say came from Cathcart and referred to umpiring youth games. The FBI said one of those messages appeared to be an admission that he was sexually attracted to children.
Investigators said they used records from Telegram, AT&T, the dating site, an internet provider and Google to connect the accounts to Cathcart, WDIV reported.
The Oakland Press reported that an FBI agent arrested Cathcart Oct. 15. Court records show he first went before a magistrate Oct. 16 and had a detention hearing Oct. 19, WDIV reported.
The Oakland Press said it had asked the Waterford Coaches Association for comment.
Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.
Sources: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan and federal criminal complaint, as reported by WDIV/ClickOnDetroit, The Oakland Press, FOX 2 Detroit and CBS Detroit.