Kenny "the Prize" Kratz, the Sexting, Pill Popping, Perverted Prosecutor

After asking Fassbender about the last person to see Teresa Halbach alive being an obvious place to start, kRATz makes the exaggerated check-mark motion on his note pad. He did that sickening motion numerous times. It is a sign of utter arrogance. So infantile. Can you imagine his bullet list?

1. Ask Fassy super smart question.
2. Sweat.
3. Petty objection.
4. Sweat some more.
5. Send dickpic.
6. Sweat so much I feel drips tickle my crack as they run down my back.
7. Erection!

"The way I hear it, Kenny was indeed offering up his 'services' to a whole list of domestic abuse victims... pro boner... cost him a 4-month suspension, 20k, his marriage, his house, his reputation, and any semblance of integrity remaining in his horrific existence...he's THE PRIZE... LOL." [HuNuWutWen]

Click here for Associated Press reporter Ryan Foley's audio interview of Ken Kratz.

"I am the most notable prosecutor in Wisconsin history because of the Steven Avery case." - Ken Kratz, May 2010 (page 19)

"He [Ken Kratz] would remind me of who he was, how he had prosecuted the biggest case around here, and what a 'prize' he was." - Dawn King, September 24, 2010 (page 14)

A domestic violence victim who turned to Kratz’s office for help claims that the DA sexually harassed her via numerous text messages, trying to convince her to have an affair with him. One of his texts read, in pertinent part:

“I’m the atty. I have the $350,000 house. I have the 6-figure career. You may be the tall, young, hot nymph, but I am the prize!”

Stephanie Van Groll: "Three Days of Hell" When Wis. DA Kenneth Kratz "Sexted" Her

Domestic abuse victim Stephanie Van Groll and Calumet County, Wisc. District Attorney Kenneth Kratz are seen in file photos. Katz "sexted" Van Groll repeatedly while prosecuting her alleged assailant, threatening to drop the case if she didn't engage in a sexual relationship. (AP Photo)

By The Associated Press 
September 15, 2010

A prominent Wisconsin district attorney sent repeated text messages trying to spark an affair with a domestic abuse victim while he was prosecuting her ex-boyfriend, a police report shows.
The 26-year-old woman complained last year to police after receiving 30 texts from Calumet County District Attorney Kenneth Kratz in three days, according to the report obtained by The Associated Press.

"Are you the kind of girl that likes secret contact with an older married elected DA ... the riskier the better?" Kratz, 50, wrote in a message to Stephanie Van Groll in October 2009. In another, he wrote: "I would not expect you to be the other woman. I would want you to be so hot and treat me so well that you'd be THE woman! R U that good?"

Kratz was prosecuting Van Groll's ex-boyfriend on charges he nearly choked her to death last year. He also was veteran chair of the Wisconsin Crime Victims' Rights Board, a quasi-judicial agency that can reprimand judges, prosecutors and police officers who mistreat crime victims.

In a combative interview in his office Wednesday, Kratz did not deny sending the messages and expressed concern their publication would unfairly embarrass him personally and professionally. He said the Office of Lawyer Regulation had found he did not violate any rules governing attorney misconduct. That office cannot comment on investigations.

"This is a non-news story," Kratz shouted. But he added, "I'm worried about it because of my reputational interests. I'm worried about it because of my 25 years as a prosecutor."

'Three days of hell'

Van Groll told police in Kaukauna, Wis., where she lived, that she felt pressured to have a relationship with Kratz or he would drop the charges against her ex-boyfriend.

Kratz then removed himself from that prosecution and the state Department of Justice took over. He resigned from the crime victims board, which he helped create, after more than a decade as chair. He and his wife filed for divorce last December, although he said they were separated when the messages were sent. Kratz has remained the top prosecutor based in Chilton, where he has served since 1992 and earns a $105,000 salary. Kratz, a Republican, said he intends to run for re-election in November 2012.

Stephanie Van Groll, a domestic abuse victim whose ex-boyfriend Shannon Konitzer was charged with nearly choking her to death.

"Nothing really happened to him and I had three days of hell," Van Groll said in a phone interview with the AP. "They gave him a slap on the wrist and told him not to do it again. If it was anybody else that did something like this, they'd lose their job."

Domestic violence experts called Kratz's text messages disturbing and unethical for several reasons, including the power differential between a prosecutor and a younger abuse victim.

"If what's being alleged is true, it's sad a prosecutor would use the same sort of power and control over a woman who has already experienced that in her personal life," said Patti Seger, executive director of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Kratz: 'I wrote the law'

Kratz may be best known for prosecuting Steven Avery in the 2005 killing of Teresa Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer. The case won national attention because Avery had spent 18 years behind bars for a rape he did not commit in a separate case before DNA evidence implicated someone else. Kratz received glowing media attention and flirted with a run for Congress in 2008.

Last year, around the time he was texting Van Groll, Kratz was back in the spotlight for prosecuting a woman who worked with others to lure a boyfriend to a hotel room and glued his penis to his stomach as revenge for his cheating.

In the interview, Kratz said he was proud he helped achieve legislation creating the first-of-its-kind crime victims' board and that he had dedicated his career to their cause.

"I wrote the law on crime victims in Wisconsin," he said, pointing to a picture of him with former Gov. Tommy Thompson signing that law. "That's the irony here."

A spokeswoman said the board has not received a complaint about Kratz and is not investigating his conduct toward Van Groll.

Kratz cited an undisclosed conflict of interest in stepping away from the abuse case after Van Groll reported the text messages, court records show. An assistant state attorney general acted as special prosecutor and won a conviction on one felony count of strangulation against the man, Shannon Konitzer.

Van Groll said Kratz sent the first text minutes after she left his office, where he had interviewed her about the case.

He said it was nice talking and "you have such potential," signing the message "KEN (your favorite DA)." Twenty minutes later, he added, "I wish you weren't one of this office's clients. You'd be a cool person to know!" But he quickly tried to start a relationship and told her to keep quiet about the texts.

Van Groll at first was polite, saying Kratz was "a nice person" and thanking him for praise. By the second day, she responded with answers such as "dono" or "no." Kratz questioned whether her "low self-esteem" was to blame for the lack of interest.

"I'm serious! I'm the atty. I have the $350,000 house. I have the 6-figure career. You may be the tall, young, hot nymph, but I am the prize!" he texted.

Kratz told her the relationship would unfold slow enough for "Shannon's case to get done." "Remember it would have to be special enough to risk all," he wrote.

Van Groll said she went to police on the third day after the messages started becoming "kind of vulgar." She provided copies of 30 messages and her responses, which the department released in response to an AP request.

"Stephanie feels afraid that if she doesn't do what he wants Kratz will throw out her whole case," an officer who interviewed Van Groll wrote.

The department referred the complaint to the state Division of Criminal Investigation because it works with Kratz's office on prosecutions. Van Groll, a college student and part-time preschool teacher who has moved to Merrill, said she has been told Kratz won't be charged because "they didn't think he did anything criminally wrong."

Kratz on Wednesday waved a copy of what he said was a report by legal regulators that cleared him. He would not give a copy to AP, and slammed the door to his office when the interview was over. 

Link to Kratz's sexting:

http://www.stevenaverycase.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Kratz-Emails_redacted.pdf

Former Wis. prosecutor Kratz won’t face charges over sexting

By The Associated Press
March 28, 2011

A former prosecutor who sent racy text messages to a domestic abuse victim will not face criminal charges over misconduct and sexual assault allegations levied by more than a dozen women, the Wisconsin Justice Department announced Monday.

State investigators determined that former Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz’s “conduct appears to fit the connotation of ‘misconduct’ and demonstrates inappropriate behavior but does not satisfy the elements required to prosecute,” wrote Assistant Attorney General Tom Storm.

Kratz’s attorney, Robert Bellin, said his office was investigating whether anyone lied in an effort to hurt Kratz.
“I think it’s obviously the right decision,” Bellin said of not filing charges. “I don’t think we were that worried about it. We think that there were statements from individuals who came forward who were not completely truthful.”

Kratz resigned from his $105,000 per year position in October after The Associated Press reported he had sent 30 text messages trying to strike up an affair with a domestic abuse victim while he prosecuted her ex-boyfriend on a strangulation charge. Kratz, who was 50 at the time, called 26-year-old Stephanie Van Groll “a hot nymph” and asked if she was “the kind of girl that likes secret contact with an older married DA.”

Van Groll complained to police and Kratz was removed from her ex-boyfriend’s case. The Justice Department investigated at the time but decided not to file charges. Kratz was instead ordered to self-report the text messages to the Office of Lawyer Regulation, a separate state entity that reviews attorneys’ conduct. The office declined to discipline Kratz, saying he hadn’t violated any rules.

Pressure mounted on Kratz to resign after Van Groll’s allegations became public. Then-Gov. Jim Doyle began removal procedures and other women came forward with accusations. The Justice Department and the lawyer regulation office both reopened investigations.

The Justice Department on Monday released its case summary, which said Van Groll was among a dozen or so women who complained about Kratz.

Two claimed they had sexual contact with Kratz, five alleged misconduct in office, and one alleged Kratz improperly told her about a search warrant. The remaining complaints didn’t include an identifiable criminal offense, the report said.

Storm, who led the investigation, wrote that one of the alleged sexual encounters occurred in 1999 and the statute of limitations had expired. The other sexual contact complaint contained “insurmountable proof problems,” Storm wrote, adding the woman wouldn’t be a credible witness because she suffered from mental illness, had prior convictions and consented to the contact.

As for misconduct in office, complaints included the messages Kratz sent to Van Groll as well as accusations Kratz sought a personal relationship with one woman in exchange for help in winning a gubernatorial pardon and a relationship with another woman in exchange for help writing a victim impact statement against her husband.

But investigators found Kratz technically didn’t fail or refuse to perform his duties, didn’t exceed his authority and didn’t try to gain a dishonest advantage.

A woman also alleged that while she was out to eat with Kratz, he was on the phone with investigators discussing a search that was under way, possibly in connection with a search warrant. Wisconsin law prohibits premature disclosure of a search warrant’s existence. But the woman couldn’t say that Kratz actually disclosed a warrant existed at any time.

“There is no reasonable possibility that further investigation will reveal evidence establishing the elements of a criminal offense,” Storm wrote. “There are no further leads to pursue and the file should be closed.”

Separately, Van Groll has filed a federal civil lawsuit accusing Kratz of sexual harassment. Van Groll’s attorney, Michael Fox, didn’t immediately return a message Monday.

Further allegations against 'sexting' DA claim social invitation to an autopsy

By The Wisconsin State Journal
September 21, 2010

Weeks after Calumet County District Attorney Kenneth Kratz was caught sending sexually charged text messages to a crime victim, he shared confidential details of a murder investigation with another woman and invited her to wear high heels to the victim's autopsy, according to a letter obtained Monday by the Wisconsin State Journal.

In the letter sent to Gov. Jim Doyle on Friday, the woman called for Kratz's removal from office and an investigation into why the district attorney was not sanctioned for his improper attempts to strike up a sexual relationship with Stephanie Van Groll, whose ex-boyfriend Kratz was prosecuting on domestic abuse charges

The woman could not be reached for comment Monday. However, Doyle spokesman Adam Collins released a copy of the letter to the media Monday afternoon - with the woman's name blacked out - shortly before Doyle announced he would seek to remove Kratz once he receives a "verified" complaint from a taxpayer in Calumet County. Van Groll lives in a different county.

Kratz, who has held his position for 18 years, has apologized for sending the text messages and said he would seek therapy. He began a medical leave on Monday, but his attorney has said he would fight attempts to remove him from office.

Kratz was also pressured to resign from the Crime Victims Rights Board, which he had chaired for 11 years, on Dec. 3 after Van Groll called Kaukauna police to report that Kratz had been harassing her by sending 30 text messages in three days.

Last week, another woman wrote to Doyle's office to say she had had a similar experience with Kratz, 50, after the two met on the online dating service Match.com in December.

"We exchanged a few emails and eventually agreed to meet for dinner," she wrote. "I was hesitant since he had written some things that were inappropriate to say to someone at that stage of communicating, and also seems to vacillate between kind and interesting and insecure, impatient and demanding. But I figured that as a public figure in a position of authority, I should be safe with him."

Later in the letter, the woman recounts incidents that appear to match the circumstances surrounding the case of Michelle Jaeger, a 39-year-old Chilton woman who disappeared in early January. Her body was found on Jan. 24, and Manitowoc County District Attorney Mark Rohrer has charged her former boyfriend, Roger D. Rosenthal, with first-degree intentional homicide. Jaeger's body was found near Brillion in Manitowoc County.

"We met for dinner at a restaurant in Green Bay on January 23, 2010," the woman wrote. "During dinner he was interrupted several times by phone calls from Detectives who were investigating a case of a missing woman who was suspected of having been killed by her boyfriend.

"I told him that if he needed to step away to have a private discussion, I didn't mind. He had no problem talking to them in front of me and then sharing the details with me as well. Many of the details that had not been made available to the public, as I later found out as I watched the news and searched reports on the Internet."

In the days following, the woman said Kratz kept her updated on the murder investigation "and 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)."

According to the Chilton Times Journal, Jaeger's autopsy was scheduled for Jan. 26.

The woman said she also felt harassed by text messages she received from Kratz, which appear to bear a strong resemblance to the texts the prosecutor sent to the abuse victim last October. She eventually told him to stop contacting her.

"If I didn't answer his texts immediately, he would become insecure and question why I hadn't responded and would attack me or my character," she wrote. "He would remind me of who he was, how he had prosecuted the biggest case around here and what a ‘prize' he was."

She ended the letter to Doyle by saying, "Please take action and do the right thing."

On Monday afternoon, Doyle said his office had not yet checked out the woman's allegations but called them "very troubling" and said officials would investigate. He added he found it "unimaginable" and "mind-boggling" that Kratz may have used his job, especially access to a victim's body, as a lure to become involved with the woman.

"To have an autopsy used as a premise for a social engagement, it's just beyond anything anybody could imagine," Doyle said. 

The Sexting DA's Romantic Adventures On Match.com
By Jezebel
April 4, 2011



The Wisconsin Dept. of Justice has released details of its investigation of sexting DA Kenneth Kratz. In addition to disturbing allegations by a variety of women, investigators found Kratz's Match.com profile and messages. Kratz's username: exboytoy1.

In addition to his repeated and unwanted sexting of Stephanie Van Groll, Kratz was accused of inviting a woman on a date to an autopsy, and pressuring another woman to have sex with him so he would support her pardon.

In addition to these, documents released Friday discuss new allegations. One woman says Kratz made "sexual advances" her while he was prosecuting her husband, including asking her to listen while he described "sexual scenarios" over the phone, offering to "send [her] to Chicago to learn how to be submissive" and fondling her under her skirt (this was consensual).

A social worker accuses him of sending inappropriate emails (more on this below).

A woman whom Kratz had prosecuted said he told her to perform oral sex on him or he could "get her jammed up" (this woman was apparently deemed an unreliable witness because she has mental illness and a criminal record).

Several women came forward with other complaints — one said Kratz asked her 17-year-old daughter inappropriate questions after she was the victim of a sex offender, while another said Kratz once told her, at work, "I won't cum in your mouth."

Several of the women above saved email correspondences between themselves and Kratz, and the woman he asked on the autopsy date saved their Match.com correspondence.

Here's Kratz's profile summary:



If you're having trouble reading the grey-on-grey, the text reads:

It's complicated, I'm not!
Currently separated, final divorce pending. No drama in the divorce. I hope to be able to find someone to communicate with, then begin to date eventually. Serious relationships ONLY. I am an attorney in Appleton, respectful, communicative, very affectionate, "sappy" romantic, own my home, and have amazing life experiences.

By January 2010, when Kratz began messaging the woman in question, these "amazing life experiences" already included several alleged incidents of harassment, including the 30 racy text messages he sent to Stephanie Van Groll in 2009 (he wasn't kidding about being communicative). It may also be true that his divorce was drama-free, but he failed to mention that it was his third. Complicated indeed!

Here's the first message the woman provided, sent by Kratz on January 8:

ironic

Its [sic, as is everything else from here on out] ironic that the woman who probably struck the sharpets chord with me is the one that I find most interesting. The fact that you accepted my explaination (despite the twinge of arrogance left therein) demonstrates the depth of your personality...any assumption that I made about you skaking through life on your looks has been dispelled.

Not only would I welcome an opportunity to meet you for some conversation, I'd be honorred.

[Name redacted], you have left an impression with me that is far removed from the plastic coated responses I otherwise receive...even the women who are "thrilled" to talk to me have a veneer of animation to them. There is nothing fake about you.

Thank you for your response. You are a stunning and impressive woman. I would live to take you to dinner. Write soon. Thank you.

Ken

The fact that the woman in question both struck a chord with Kratz and interested him does not appear to be ironic, but what is ironic is that Kratz fancied himself something of a writing expert, mocking a social worker (not his Match.com contact) for using the word "conflictual" in a report. He said it wasn't a word; it is one. Unlike, say, "skaking." When the social worker set him straight about "conflictual," he replied "you can either flirt with me or not — you can't have it both ways." She told him she wasn't interested in flirting, and the matter dropped, although she says he did comment to her about a reporter who had "big, beautiful breasts."

But back to the Match.com story — here's Kratz's next message (sent at 12:45 AM on Jan. 12):

Re: ironic

Wednesday? Let me know if we can do it before you leave—-Im hungry!

By the way is this a date (where I get to hold out hope of seeing you eventually) or a lunch with a possible friend thing, where I get to see how beautiful you are but realize that never in a million years will you be holdingher???

I have so many questions for you, seems you wont get in any edgewise!!!

If we do go to dinner and its a date, can I pick out the heels you will wear? I find that entertaining!

OK, talk soon, my phone [redacted by DOJ]...text or call anytime!!!

Ken

Kratz appears to have been quite the fan of heels — he'd subsequently ask her to wear them to a crime scene, and later to the autopsy (she declined both). At 7:57 the next morning, he apparently felt he had come on a little strong:

plans

I re-read my message from last night. Guess I was a little impatient.

OK, lets try this again... If you have to leave town, just call next week when we can schedule something! I am truly looking forward to taking you to a lovely dinner (I'm sure whatever heels you pick will be beautiful—-LOL).

Regarding whether this is a "date" or not, we are both single and if there is some spark great, we'll go from there. If not, you will always have me available as a friend of yours. We don't have to "call" this anything! Call or text me.

Better?

Ken

And finally:

RE: plans

If I get 1 meal with you, dinner for sure! Friday or Saturday is best...but I will make myself available when you are free. What kind of food do you like? Green Bay, Appleton, in between...everything works.

I am a little "taken" by you. Im sorry I sound like Im in 7th grade. Obvious that doesn't happen to me very often

Let me know, and Im there! Thanks again..

Ken

Ken and the woman did end up having dinner at the Black and Tan restaurant in Green Bay, and it was there that he — according to her testimony — took several phone calls and discussed an ongoing missing-person investigation with detectives while at the table with her. He also told her he suspected that the missing woman's boyfriend had murdered her, and invited her to the crime scene (in heels, natch), all while getting increasingly drunk. She says "DA Kratz was not worried about drinking and driving, and she felt he thought he was 'above the law.' DA Kratz told [her] that he would not have a problem if he was stopped while driving home because he had friends."

In the days that followed, Kratz continued to text her with unreleased information about the case, including the fact that investigators had discovered a body. That's when he invited her to the autopsy, "as long as she would wear heels and act as his girlfriend." According to the documents, she "stated that she thought this was wrong on so many levels." There was apparently no second date.

The woman's statement and the e-mails sent by Kratz can be found at the following link:

https://www.convolutedbrian.com/Support/kratz/DOJ_Investigation/Kratz_Records_Part_1_20110401102147362.pdf 

Kratz's Pretrial Behavior Called 'Unethical' by Others within the Legal Community
By lmogier at Reddit

I came across this article that Zellner tweeted a link to recently and found it Interesting that even Kratz's peers/colleagues think his behavior was unethical and wrong (although he still defends his actions - cause he is THE PRIZE!)...

http://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/local/steven-avery/2016/01/15/kratzs-pretrial-behavior-called-unethical/78630248/

Some highlights:

-- "To me, those press conferences would suggest a colorable violation of the (bar association) trial publicity rule. The risks of prejudice are magnified in smaller communities because of the pervasive nature of the publicity and the likelihood that virtually the entire community will have strong feelings about the case. The Avery case appeared to have captured the attention of the Fox Valley market ... and you cannot un-ring that bell." ----Ben Kempinen, University of Wisconsin Law School clinical professor of law and director of the Prosecution Project.

Prosecutors are not supposed to be making public statements prior to a defendant's trial regarding the following areas:

"The character, credibility, reputation or criminal record of a party, suspect in a criminal investigation or witness, or the identity of a witness, or the expected testimony of a party or witness." "The identity or nature of physical evidence expected to be presented." "Any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of a defendant or suspect in a criminal case or proceeding that could result in deprivation of liberty." "Information the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is likely to be inadmissible evidence in a trial and would, if disclosed, create a substantial risk of prejudicing an impartial trial."

Abbe Smith, director of the criminal defense and prisoner advocacy clinic at Georgetown University, said Kratz's opening declaration in his March 2, 2006, press conference exclaiming "we now have determined" and his continuing comments about Dassey supposedly hearing screams and running over to his uncle's trailer were highly improper for a press briefing.

"It's unethical behavior with no legitimate purpose," Smith told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. "Prosecutors should err on the side of not inflaming the public. To prosecute a case in the media damages the legal system because you're prejudicing the jury process."

*"There is absolutely no purpose for any of this stuff that Ken Kratz did," * said Ritnour, who served two terms in two largely rural counties similar to Manitowoc and Calumet counties, from 2003 through 2010.

"He likes and wants his name out there. He is definitely trying to get to the people who will then be in the jury pool. Even if Kratz loses (at trial), he still kind of wins anyway because he convicted Avery and Dassey in the court of public opinion."

However, several lawyers and courtroom experts said that Kratz's behavior was clearly inappropriate for any prosecutor because his statements were eroding the opportunity for Dassey and Avery to receive a fair and impartial jury trial.

FORENSIC EXPERT: KRATZ GIVES FALSE STORY.

Brent Turvey, a nationally recognized forensic scientist and criminal profiler in Alaska, said the crime scene evidence collected from inside of the Avery residence does not match up with Kratz's salacious and inflammatory press conference statements around the time of Dassey's arrest and purported confession to the pair of investigators.

Ken Kratz gives this false story," Turvey said. "It's pure fantasy. The entire theory comes from the fantasies of these police investigators (interviewing Dassey). The problem here is that (Kratz) gave false information, this whole sexual fantasy, talking about Teresa Halbach talking and begging and yelling when none of this had any forensic science to back it up.

"Why does this matter? Because you are not allowed to gin up the public and misrepresent the evidence when talking to the press, and the only reason you do that is when you and the police don't have a good case to begin with. Ken Kratz was trying this case in the press to disparage the defendants. What these judges should have done was put a gag order in place. There should have been some consequences from the Wisconsin Bar Association, and the judge who is seeing this nonsense go on should have put a stop to this. Nobody in this case wanted a fair trial."

Link to motion that lists ALL of publicity (and actual wording) of media coverage - including Kratz's:

http://www.stevenaverycase.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Defendants-Memo-on-Examples-of-Prejudicial-Pretrial-Publicity.pdf

Sexual Misconduct Accusations Against ‘Making a Murderer’ Prosecutor Undermine Conviction, Defense Attorney Says

By Newsweek
August 15, 2016

The Wisconsin prosecutor who convicted Steven Avery, the subject of the blockbuster documentary Making a Murderer, bragged about his role in the controversial case to impress women he wanted to date and was accused multiple times of abusing his official position to coerce women into sexual conversations and acts, according to documents obtained by Newsweek.

Human Trafficking Has Been Documented in More Than Half of All Wisconsin Counties

Details of Ken Kratz's Rape Case by Shawn Attwood


Between Ken Kratz and Steven Avery, the one most capable of abducting and raping Teresa Halbach is Kratz, who also could have sold her to a sex ring.











"Kratz should have to register as a sex offender and be completely stripped of his license! Kratz blames his behavior on drugs. Well, if that's the case, he should also be ordered to court for drug testing. He is the classic example of a habitual sexual predator. Because he is or was a officer of the courts he should be made an example of, and his crimes should not just swept under the rug! A deviant pervert that used his status to manipulate abused women by threats for his own sexual perversion. Frankly, people like him are the most dangerous in society because they abuse their position and get away with it." - Kim Phillips, youtube.com

"Ken Kratz needs to go, and the rest of all the police in this County. Anytime a women is raped and the justice system turns their back because he's a good ole boy, I'm telling you, karma will work its way around to him and the rest for the framing of Steven and Brenden." - Carole Davis, youtube.com

"Kratz is a sick, sick and deeply hypocritical man! He held a press conference after Brendan Dasey's 'confession' and gave those details with a faked pious expression, but now we know he must be secretly jizzing himself, conjuring up those images of women in bondage, describing with malignant glee Avery apparently shackling Teresa Halbach on the bed, and spewing many other sordid descriptions and lies to poison the jury pool. He himself was deeply involved in ACTUAL disgraceful acts such as rape. This man should be locked up with the keys thrown away forever!" - Scd Observer, youtube.com

"I am the most notable prosecutor in Wisconsin history because of the Steven Avery case." - Ken Kratz, May 2010 (page 19)

Prosecutors have won only three human trafficking convictions in Wisconsin, despite widespread reports that the crime takes place in nearly every corner of the state. The Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance reports that trafficking has been documented in more than half of all Wisconsin counties, in both rural and urban areas. To date, more than 200 victims have been identified. Since 2000, about one in six victims reported in Wisconsin was a minor. Worldwide, human trafficking generates $32 billion a year, according to a United Nations agency called the International Labour Organization.

There is not conclusive evidence that Teresa Halbach's body was found. What if she had been trafficked into the sex industry?

Sex-trafficking Cases Hard to Crack in Wisconsin
Shereen Siewert, Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald  
March 26, 2014

WAUSAU, Wis. — On an October day in 2010, a 22-year-old woman strolled along National Avenue in Milwaukee, headed to a friend's home to spend the night.

An SUV pulled up alongside her. The door opened, and a stocky, bearded man jumped from the driver's seat, grabbed her by the jacket and threw her into the back of the vehicle. Frantic, she tried to call her friend for help, but the call never went through.

"I've been looking for you," the man said as he grabbed her phone away.

What followed — authorities said — were nine days of forced sexual encounters with multiple men and other assaults that ended in Wausau, Wis. The incidents eventually led to Wisconsin's first successful prosecution of sex trafficking, in which people are forced or coerced into sexual slavery.

The case illustrates both the depravity of trafficking and the challenge of bringing the perpetrators to justice. Prosecutors have won only three human trafficking convictions in Wisconsin, despite widespread reports that the crime takes place in nearly every corner of the state.

In November, The (Appleton, Wis.) Post-Crescent found that while 40% of women arrested for sex work faced criminal charges, 99% of men arrested for patronizing prostitutes were released unscathed.

In line with the report, Appleton and Grand Chute, Wis., police and county prosecutors said they were adjusting policies to take a harder stance on johns, while offering more options for women potentially trapped in the world of sex trafficking.

"Trafficking looks different ways — some girls are groomed for this since birth," said Nicole Tynan, an anti-trafficking advocate with Reach Counseling Services. "I see just (as) many black women from Milwaukee as Asians from here and underage girls. It's everywhere."

The Oshkosh Police Department enlisted Tynan to assist with potential sex trafficking victims who are arrested for various offenses. It gives her a chance to speak with them about options for "getting out of the life," she said.

The partnership is just one example of how law enforcement officials have spent the last year strengthening prevention efforts for trafficking in the Fox Valley, Tynan said.

"The year 2013 came and it was like a bomb went off," Tynan said of the increase in law enforcement efforts and public awareness.

A successful prosecution

According to police reports and a transcript of court testimony in the Wausau case:

The victim recognized her attacker as a man who had assaulted her at a Milwaukee casino months earlier. In that encounter, she escaped and ran to her mother's house but never called police.

The man, later identified as 40-year-old Derrick Thornton, drove to a nearby hotel and dragged the woman to a room, tore her book bag from her arms and stripped off her clothes. Then, the reports say, Thornton raped her. And that was just the beginning.

“Trafficking looks different ways — some girls are groomed for this since birth.”

Thornton took photos of the woman and gave her a new name: Minnie. The photos were posted as part of an advertisement for adult escort services on an Internet classified site called Backpage.com. Soon, the calls started rolling in.

For nine straight days, "Minnie" was sold for sex, passed off to dozens of nameless, faceless men. Thornton didn't sit still. He moved her from hotel to hotel, from city to city.

Minnie told police she thought of running away, but was terrified her tormentor would find her and the abuse would worsen. And she testified that she really had nowhere else to go.

Hours after arriving at the Days Inn in Wausau on Oct. 23, 2010, Minnie made her escape. According to the police report, she ran to the hotel's front desk and begged for help. The desk clerk locked Minnie in a conference room until police arrived. Investigators documented Minnie's story, took photos of the welts and bruises on her body and arrested Thornton a short time later — putting an end to the nightmare that Minnie endured for more than a week.

Prosecutors charged Thornton with human trafficking. Thornton's March 2012 conviction marked the first successful prosecution of a human trafficking case in Wisconsin.

Thornton, who is serving a 17-year prison sentence, appealed his conviction in February, claiming his lawyer was ineffective. Thornton now represents himself.

Hundreds of victims; billions in revenue

Sex trafficking is a lucrative business. While a gram of heroin can be sold just once, a man, woman or child can be sold repeatedly. Worldwide, human trafficking generates $32 billion a year, according to the International Labour Organization, a United Nations agency.

The Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance reports that trafficking has been documented in more than half of all Wisconsin counties, in both rural and urban areas.To date, more than 200 victims have been identified. Since 2000, about one in six victims reported in Wisconsin was a minor.

"I don't know if we're seeing more reports of trafficking because it's happening more or just that we're more aware of it," said Marathon County Deputy District Attorney Theresa Wetzsteon, who prosecutes the bulk of sex crimes in the county. "I just know it's happening more than we can even handle."

Prosecuting Thornton was no easy task. Like most human trafficking stories, other factors come into play.

The fine line between willing prostitute and trafficking victim can be difficult to define. Popular images of human trafficking include people held under lock and key. More commonly, Wetzsteon said, traffickers use more subtle means to control their victims, such as psychological coercion and threats of violence.

Often, sex-traffickers target vulnerable people with histories of abuse. They use violence, threats, false promises and other forms of control to keep victims firmly entrenched in the sex industry. Children are frequent targets.

Still, few suspects in Marathon County accused in prostitution-related crimes have been charged with felony trafficking — in part because alternate charges are easier to prosecute, Wetzsteon said. Proving trafficking is difficult because state law puts the burden on victims, who have to prove the trafficking was done without their consent.

That makes coming forward even more difficult for victims, who often fear they might be prosecuted.

In Thornton's case, Wetzsteon said, prosecutors were able to prove that Minnie was not a willing participant.

"Derrick Thornton used the threat of physical violence to force the victim into prostitution," Wetzsteon said. "That's what made this case cross the threshold from pimping into trafficking."

Determining jurisdiction also can be complicated in human trafficking cases since victims frequently are moved across state lines. But the penalties are steep. A human trafficking conviction carries a maximum prison term of 25 years. The penalty shoots up to 40 years when a child is involved.

The child sex trade

Only two other suspects, Jermaine Rogers, 39, of Milwaukee and Paul Ketring, 43, of Verona, have been convicted on trafficking charges, according to court records.

Human trafficking victims come from a variety of backgrounds, including middle- and upper-class families. Poverty is one of many factors that make people vulnerable to exploitation.

Nationally, the average age of a new child prostitute is 13, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Dana Brueck, the department's spokeswoman, said child sex trafficking typically involves the Internet, "either for traffickers to advertise, to communicate with possible victims and offenders, or to distribute sexually explicit images of child victims."

Nationwide, at least 100,000 children are being exploited through pornography or prostitution every year, according to Shared Hope, an agency that works with the victims of the child sex trade.

"There is one key difference in child trafficking cases," Wetzsteon said. "When an adult is involved, we have to prove they were coerced or forced into the act. When children are involved, that's not even a question."

Human Trafficking Spreading Through Wisconsin
By Doug Schneider, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
June 6, 2015

Story Highlights

    Experts: Human trafficking often linked with drug dealing, sexual assault and robberies
    Worldwide, human trafficking generates $32 billion a year, according to a United Nations agency

To Sister Celine Goessl, the news was tragic but not surprising. 

Police who staged a raid at a Fox Valley motel in April found a 17-year-old Green Bay girl and a 14-year-old Appleton girl being sold to men for sex. The 14-year-old, who police said had seen 18 men before the arrest, would tell police that she needed money to repay a suspected pimp who had threatened her.

Prosecutors said the teens were the victims of human trafficking — a form of slavery in which force, fraud or coercion is employed to make another person provide labor, usually a sex act.

Prosecutors charged the three Green Bay adults who accompanied the girls with prostitution, child trafficking, soliciting a child for prostitution and child enticement.

For Sister Goessl, it's a story she hears all too often.

"It seems like this is happening in almost every single county in Wisconsin," she said.

The Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance has documented trafficking cases in more than half of Wisconsin's 72 counties, both urban and rural, amid more than 200 cases overall. Three-fourths involved sex trafficking. About one-sixth of the victims were minors.

But as trafficking has spread, it has become harder to find and more difficult to stop. Experts say pimps and prostitutes use the Internet to arrange meetings with "johns" by posting ads on backpage.com and other websites.

"What we don't see is the old stereotypical image of the street-walker," said Lyn Beyer, executive director of Reach Counseling Services Inc., which provides sexual-assault prevention and counseling services in the Fox Valley. "Nowadays, everything is done (online) or through cellphones, so most of this happens in hotel rooms. So that's part of the reason why the community doesn't get a sense that it's happening here."

Beyer said human traffickers often move up from Chicago, stopping at Wisconsin cities along Interstate 41 before heading west.

Green Bay, with its location along interstates, attractiveness to tourists and its ability to attract thousands of cash-laden weekend visitors for football games and concerts, can present a level of demand that appeals greatly to traffickers, said Brown County Sheriff's Lt. Jim Valley, who frequently investigates sex crimes against minors.

Beyond Brown County

Green Bay police made eight prostitution arrests during a sting operation in spring last year, then busted a total of 22 hookers and customers during a crackdown in the fall. Ashwaubenon public safety officers have made arrests, targeting both prostitutes and the people who pay them.

"We also try to get to the people who traffic them," said Capt. Jody Crocker. "But that's difficult because they may fear violence, or they may view that person as their lifeline."

Worldwide, human trafficking generates $32 billion

But the problem is not limited to Brown County.

• In Oshkosh, authorities made 31 arrests linked to prostitution and human trafficking in 2013. A year later, they reported making 50.

• In Shawano County, three women were charged with prostitution last September after they offered sex for money.

• In Sheboygan, a 29-year-old man agreed in May to plead no contest to one count of human trafficking and another of trafficking of a child. Prosecutors say the man brought teenage girls to Sheboygan and arranged for them to have sex with men at various locations, ordering the girls to give him the money they collected.

• In Wausau, a 40-year-old man was convicted last year of trafficking a 22-year-old woman who was grabbed off a Milwaukee street in 2010. A judge sentenced the man to 17 years in prison after testimony showed that he forced the women to have sex with different men in motels over a nine-day span before her escape.

• Statewide, 10 Wisconsin children were rescued from trafficking and 100 suspects were arrested over one weekend in 2013 during a nationwide FBI investigation.

Police elsewhere tell similar stories — and say they could do more if they had more resources.

"If this office needs to do a drug case, we have multiple officers we can assign and we can get help from (neighboring) departments," said Brown County Sheriff's Lt. Jim Valley, who frequently investigates sex crimes involving underage victims. "For human-trafficking cases, we maybe have one."

Worldwide, human trafficking generates $32 billion a year, according to a United Nations agency called the International Labour Organization.

'Not for sale'

The message from the Green Bay Police Department was simple, following last year's sting that netted eight arrests.

"These operations are important because of the inherent health and public safety concerns caused by this behavior," the department wrote on Nixle, the public-messaging service it uses.

"The illicit sex trade historically has connections to human trafficking, drug dealing, sexual assault and robberies. The victims are not only those involved in all aspects of this lifestyle, but their families and the community."

Organizations large and small are heeding the call to help stamp out human trafficking in Wisconsin.

Last year, the state Legislature passed a law that strengthened penalties against traffickers. Earlier this year, an estimated 650 people attended an anti-trafficking conference, in Milwaukee, called "Not for Sale."

"That person you thought was just a runaway or a delinquent," said U.S. Attorney Julie Pfluger, who prosecutes federal child exploitations in Wisconsin. "That person might be a victim of trafficking."

On a smaller scale, forums and workshops have been held in the past few years at various locations around the state, including an event earlier this year at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Some of the women who attended the UWGB event then met in May, inside Heartland Church near the Howard-Suamico line, to discuss ways that they might assist the survivors of human trafficking.

The group plans further meetings this summer.

Five charged in alleged sex ring in Chilton (Chilton is near the town where Teresa lived and in the county where Kratz was the District Attorney from 1992 to 2010)
Associated Press
August 26, 2002 

CHILTON - Multiple charges of sexual assault, child exploitation and possession of child pornography have been filed against five people who allegedly participated in a sex ring involving a 15-year-old girl.