APNewsBreak: Law student says ’sexting’ Wis. DA harassed her as she sought a pardon from him

APNewsBreak: Wis. DA harassed woman seeking pardon

MADISON, Wis. — A law student said Tuesday that a Wisconsin prosecutor under fire for sending racy text messages to a domestic abuse victim also sent her similar texts in 2008 after agreeing to help her seek a pardon for a decade-old drug conviction.

Maria Ruskiewicz said she believes Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz wanted sexual favors in return for supporting her pardon. She said she met Kratz in his office in 2008, and afterward, the Oklahoma City University law student said Kratz sent her text messages that soon turned harassing, including one that asked how she would please him in bed.

Ruskiewicz is the third woman to come forward with allegations that Kratz acted inappropriately as district attorney.

“The reason why I’m coming forward is he abuses his power, not only with women, but with women in certain situations who are extremely vulnerable to his authority,” Ruskiewicz, 31, an Appleton native, told The Associated Press in a phone interview. Gov. Jim Doyle pardoned her last month, a move Kratz supported.

Kratz has acknowledged sending 30 text messages in three days last year to the domestic abuse victim while he was prosecuting her ex-boyfriend. In the messages, Kratz asked whether the woman was “the kind of girl that likes secret contact with an older married elected DA,” and called her a “tall, young, hot nymph.”

A second woman complained to Doyle’s office last week that Kratz invited her to an autopsy after they went to dinner “provided I act as his girlfriend and would wear high heels and a skirt.” The governor has blasted Kratz’s behavior on as an “unimaginable” abuse of power if true.

Kratz’s attorney, Bob Craanen, has denied that he invited the second woman to witness the autopsy and has apologized for the test messages to the abuse victim. He announced earlier this week he was going on medical leave indefinitely but has rejected calls to resign from lawmakers, his peers and victims’ advocates.

Craanen said he did not know anything about Ruskiewicz’s claims when asked by the AP on Tuesday and could not reach Kratz, who is receiving in-patient therapy.

Ruskiewicz said she went to Kratz in 2008 asking for his support for her pardon application and career advice before she entered law school. She said Kratz agreed to support her and they met in his office, where he asked her an odd question about whether a boss could have a sexual relationship with a secretary. She was confused but grateful for his support.

He gave her his cell phone number, and she texted him later to thank him for the help — a move she now calls a mistake.

She said his messages soon turned sexual. She recalled him texting while he was on vacation in Michigan with his family asking how she would “please him between the sheets while he takes a nap.”

Ruskiewicz said she didn’t know to respond because she did not want to alienate Kratz, who was critical for her pardon. After discussing the matter with relatives, she politely told him she was not interested and he said he would stop.

She said she didn’t hear from him for a couple of months but then got a message where he demanded they meet “in person,” a request she said was disturbing. At the time, she was just starting law school at Oklahoma City University of Law, where she plans to graduate in May.

Deborah Felice, the associate dean for students at the law school, said she met with Ruskiewicz at her request on Sept. 25, 2008, to discuss how to handle the messages.

“She said she was very upset because she was pursuing a pardon and the DA she was working with was sending her these text messages that were basically stalking her,” Felice said, adding that she was shown some of the messages.

Felice said she and Ruskiewicz met with the university’s top lawyer on Sept. 30 to discuss the case. They ultimately decided the best course of action was to ignore Kratz and hope that he would go away, which eventually happened.

“He is just some jerk lawyer that doesn’t need to be in her life as she’s starting law school,” Felice said. She said she spoke with Ruskiewicz a few weeks later and the messages had stopped, and “that’s the last I heard of it until this morning,” when she saw a segment on “Good Morning America” about Kratz.

“I heard ‘Wisconsin DA sexting’ and I nearly died,” she said. “I thought this has to be the same guy. It’s way out of line. We’re all relieved this guy is being investigated and hopefully he’ll be removed from office.”

Richard Ginkowski, assistant district attorney in Kenosha County, said Ruskiewicz told her about Kratz’s “inappropriate action” when they met in his office in June 2009 to discuss a possible internship.

“It was a bit of a bombshell,” he said of her allegations against Kratz. “It’s something strange, bizarre, unusual, pick your word. And certainly, if true, it was inappropriate.”

Ginkowski said he suggested the first thing to do was to make sure Kratz remained supportive of her pardon, which he said would be critical for her future legal career. He said he then explained options about how she could later proceed if she desired, including reporting the matter to the Office of Lawyer Regulation. She stayed quiet until Tuesday.

On Monday, Doyle said he would start the process to consider removing Kratz and that he hopes to make a decision in a month. At a news conference five days after The Associated Press broke the story, Doyle said any prosecutor who would have behaved that way on his watch would have faced repercussions.

“It troubles me deeply that somebody turns to the criminal justice system for help and receives the kinds of texts we have seen,” said Doyle, a former district attorney and attorney general who leaves the governor’s office in January.

Michael Fox, the attorney for the domestic abuse victim, called the newest allegations “appalling, an outrage.”

“These are very disturbing revelations,” he said. “In both cases, you have the welfare of an individual in your hands because of the power given to you.”

He added that Kratz’s behavior is “becoming more of an apparent pattern than was at first suspected.”