Two More Women Allege Wisconsin DA Sent Suggestive Texts — How Will You ‘Please Me In Between The Sheets?’

Calumet County DA Kenneth Kratz
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A total of four women have now reportedly come forward and accused Kenneth Kratz, district attorney in Calumet County, Wisconsin, of sending them sexually suggestive text messages.

Among the latest allegations, law student Maria Ruskiewicz claims she went to Kratz to get a drug conviction from when she was a teenager removed from her record, and Kratz sent her texts that leveraged his position. “What are you going to do to please me in between the sheets?” the DA wrote, according to Ruskiewicz.

Ruskiewicz came forward yesterday and said that:

They started to take an inappropriate turn soon after I met in his office to say, you know, ‘Thank you for your support. Do you have any future advice for a soon-to-be law student?’ It was immediately thereafter that he started texting, you know, ‘How can you please me? How — why have you failed my invitation?’ And, you know, ‘Have I done something wrong?’ And those texts were just back-to-back.

Kratz, who went on medical leave this week but has said he won’t resign, was appointed as Calumet County District Attorney in 1992 by Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson. Kratz, also a Republican, considered a run for Congress in 2008 against incumbent Rep. Tom Petri (R).

Earlier this week, a letter from another woman whose name was not released, was made public by Gov. Jim Doyle’s office, and alleges she went on a date with Kratz and he “even went so far as to inviting me to go with him to the autopsy (provided I would be his girlfriend and would wear high heels and a skirt).” Kratz’s attorney, Robert Craanen, has since said that Kratz denies he invited the woman to an autopsy, and that the allegations are “completely ridiculous.”

But Kratz has admitted to sending inappropriate text messages to Stephanie Van Groll back in October 2009, when he was handling her domestic abuse case. “If you are not worth that kind of passion, we’ll know it right away. For now I’m just suggesting we find out. Its either perfect or I’m not going to do it,” one of the texts said.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Van Groll’s attorney Michael R. Fox says he has been contacted by a fourth woman who alleges Kratz sent her “similar if not identical” texts when he was handling her own domestic abuse case. The woman’s name has also not been released.

Gov. Jim Doyle said in a press conference this week that he will take steps to remove Kratz from office.

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