A CPS investigation into an Albion family last year was part of a strange, unraveling criminal investigation, full of pointed fingers and allegations of criminal activity.

Norman Pittelkow and his wife, Nicole Jacob were targeted by Homeland Security Investigations, a department of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They were accused of producing, and conspiring to produce, child pornography. According to a criminal complaint unsealed in the U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, the pair had produced numerous videos and pictures of Pittelkow sexually abusing minors.

This in turn resulted in a CPS investigation into the couple’s parenting. Child Protective Services removed the couple’s children, and then filed a petition to terminate their parental rights. The couple, however, disappeared during the federal probe, and were considered to be fugitives on the run. The couple spent several weeks hiding from police in numerous southern states before they finally surrendered to police and were arrested.

But Pittelkow is now saying that a long-time friend of his, who also happened to be a police detective with the Albion Police Department, helped them out, in more ways than one. During a recent hearing, Pittelkow shared with the court that Luis Tejada of Homer, his cop friend, was the one who warned them to flee the state in the first place.

He claims he recieved illegal help from a friend in the police department

A CPS hearing had been scheduled in the child neglect case that Pittelkow and his wife were facing, but Tejada allegedly contacted them and told them it was a trap and they were going to be arrested for child abuse, which is why he and Jacob fled the area and holed up in a hotel in Jackson.

They claim that they continued to have contact with Tejada via a third person, and kept their cell phones turned off to avoid detection. According to Pittelkow, Tejada told him and his wife to “get lost down in Georgia” because the FBI was looking for them. Tejada, however, denies these claims.

Tejada, who resigned from the Albion Police Department in January of this year, is charged with Lying to a Police Officer, and being an Accessory after the fact to a felony. According to the prosecutor’s office, Tejada is facing five years behind bars if he is found guilty. Pittelkow told the court that he is not “ratting out” his former friend in order to help himself. “Nothing can help me now” he said in response to that allegation.