An accused child molester who co-founded the popular science-fiction convention DragonCon has filed more than 200 grievances and requests for special accommodations — as many as three per day — since he returned to the Gwinnett County jail in January.
Jail documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution via an Open Records requests reveal that Edward Eliot Kramer, 52, who is legally disabled and an Orthodox Jew, has complained persistently about what he claims is a lack of access to religious services, texts and kosher foods as well as unspecified inadequate provisions for the disabled. The avalanche of complaints is keeping deputies hopping because they have to investigate and answer every one, no matter how unusual or repetitive.
Gwinnett County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Shannon Volkodav said there’s no way to estimate the cost, because a couple of Kramer’s comments did not solicit a response and others required hours of legal research. However, she noted that a lieutenant and captain reviews each request or grievance.
For example, after Kramer was denied permission to light candles in his cell in observance of his Orthodox Jewish faith. So Kramer asked on Feb. 14 for permission to light two cigarettes and “pretend they were candles.” The request came a few weeks after Kramer, who is housed in the medical unit because of his chronic health problems, complained that any exposure to smoke in the housing units would send him into respiratory distress.
Seven times, Kramer has complained that there are no religious services for Jews. He has repeatedly been advised that the jail does not have a rabbi volunteer, and that religious services can only be conducted by volunteers.
Twelve times, Kramer has requested a typewriter be placed in his cell. The request was denied because inmates aren’t allowed to have typewriters for safety reasons. But in an effort to accommodate him, deputies allowed Kramer to use a typewriter in the jail’s law library for an hour a day. Kramer initially refused to use that typewriter. Then he claimed it was broken (it wasn’t when deputies tested it). And finally, he complained his psoriatic arthritis causes his typing to be too slow to accomplish what he needs to do in that time frame.
In another thread of complaints, Kramer begged for a “Tanakh” (Hebrew bible). But after deputies ordered and delivered one to his cell Feb. 14, Kramer rejected it, saying it was written in English and was an insult to his religion, jail records show.
Last month, Kramer filed a lawsuit in federal court over many of the same issues.
“He appears to be a whiner of some magnitude, but that’s just my opinion,” said Sheriff Butch Conway. “It’s got to the point it’s harassment with my staff.”
Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said Kramer appears to be manipulating the system.
“We’re obligated by federal law and our own liability coverage that we have to follow up on every complaint, and he knows that,” Porter said. “There’s no question that it can be used for harassment.”
Kramer’s attorney for the civil suit, McNeill Stokes, said Thursday that the requests are not a ploy and that Kramer has a right to “reasonable accommodations” under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Danny can say he’s faking, well he’s not,” Stokes said.
Sincere or not, one thing is certain: the tactics have helped Kramer secure more freedoms and forestalled a trial for more than a decade.
Kramer was arrested Aug. 25, 2000 and accused of molesting three boys. He was indicted in 2000 and then again in 2003 when additional charges of aggravated child molestation and child molestation charges were added. Prosecutors say he had a pattern of befriending single mothers and dazzling their sons with science fiction memorabilia during sleepovers at his house in Duluth.
Kramer sued the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department and lost in 2002, claiming that deputies at the jail assaulted him and broke his neck. Kramer’s lawyers say the injury causes him constant pain and affects his diaphragm, making it difficult for him to breathe.
A judge initially denied bond for Kramer. But the judge reconsidered and allowed him to be released on house arrest in 2001 after Kramer’s lawyers argued that his health problems could not be adequately treated at the jail.
Even after his release on house arrest, Kramer’s lawyers continually sought and were granted looser restrictions so he could travel for religious observances, appointments with out-of-state doctors or to see his ailing mother in New York. At the same time, his trial was repeatedly delayed because of Kramer’s health complications, or pretrial appeals.
Kramer’s lawyers presented evidence from doctors that his injuries — particularly his difficulty breathing — prevented him from concentrating, remembering or participating in a trial. Each time Kramer appeared in court, he was seated in a wheelchair with an oxygen machine feeding air into his nose through a tube.
Finally in April 2009, Superior Court Judge Karen E. Beyers took the extraordinary step of putting a trial on hold indefinitely. In the meantime, restrictions remained in place that prevented him from traveling outside of Georgia, New York or New Jersey. Kramer was required to report to the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office from a landline telephone once a week. He also was ordered not to have contact with minors under age 16.
However, in 2011, authorities in Connecticut arrested Kramer on charges that he violated conditions of his bond by staying in a hotel room with a 14-year-old boy. Witnesses who testified at bond hearing last month said Kramer claimed to be acting as a guardian for the boy on the set of an independent movie being filmed there. They also said that while in Connecticut, Kramer ditched his wheelchair and oxygen machine and was seen tromping through wilderness areas, lugging 12 pounds of camera equipment as he followed the film crew.
Porter said that Kramer filed numerous complaints over the year-long period he spent fighting extradition while housed in a Connecticut jail. The tactics worked there, too, he said.
“By the time he came back to Georgia, they were begging to get him out of Connecticut,” Porter said. “And, they dropped charges so that I can’t send him back.”
About the Author
