The Office of Lawyer Regulation in Wisconsin released a report this week that accuses former Wisconsin District Attorney Kenneth Kratz of sexual harassment and eleven violations of state rules of conduct for his alleged “sexting” of domestic abuse victims whose cases he was handling.
After a year-long investigation, the OLR filed a complaint on Wednesday and recommended that the state suspend Kratz’s law license for six months.
Kratz resigned in 2010 after admitting that he sent suggestive text messages to Stephanie Van Groll in October 2009, when he was handling her domestic abuse case. One of the texts said: “Are u the kind of girl that likes secret contact with an older married elected DA…the riskier the better? Or do you want to stop right now before any issues?”
Multiple women came forward after the initial scandal broke, including one who claimed that Kratz took her on a date to an autopsy.
The OLR report accuses Kratz of acting inappropriately on multiple occasions in what amounted to eleven conduct violations, including sexual harassment and having a conflict of interest and an “offensive personality.”
From the Washington Post, the complaint also details other allegations made against Kratz:
The complaint noted that during that same period Kratz made lewd remarks about oral sex to a social worker worried about testifying in a parental rights case. He also told her he wanted to go to Las Vegas and have large-chested women serve him drinks.
Kratz currently runs a private firm that takes criminal defense, drunken driving, divorce and injury cases, the Post reports.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice previously declined to press criminal charges against Kratz, but Van Groll filed a civil suit against him.
Kratz has 20 days to file a formal response to the OLR complaint before it is taken up by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which has final say on any disciplinary action.
