LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — In the nearly two decades since a co-founder of Dragon Con was accused of molesting teenage boys, a strange legal odyssey has unfolded, including a proposed move to Israel, a trial delay because of a presidential election and an extradition by air ambulance.
Now, Ed Kramer faces new charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life.
Arrested in August 2000, Kramer was sentenced over a decade later on three counts of child molestation but maintained his innocence.
He was arrested again in February, accused of photographing a child without parental consent and violating his probation. But there was another strange twist. Kramer was working at the time for a private investigator hired by a Gwinnett County judge who reportedly believed District Attorney Danny Porter had hacked her computer.
Kramer, 58, believes his arrest was connected to that work, his lawyer said.
Begun in 1987, Dragon Con — a sci-fi, fantasy and gaming convention that opens Thursday — attracts tens of thousands of visitors to Atlanta every Labor Day weekend. Kramer, a co-founder, hasn't been involved since his August 2000 arrest on charges of molesting two brothers, aged 13 and 15.
Prosecutors said Kramer met the teens while dating their mother, lured them with action figures and sci-fi memorabilia and initiated sexual contact during sleepovers at his house. More charges were added three years later, when another teen came forward.
Porter said Kramer met that third teen through Dragon Con and always had a group of teens, known as "Ed's boys," around him at the convention.
Legal wrangling and Kramer's health delayed his trial numerous times. His court file is jammed with reports from doctors attesting to ailments and assertions that he's physically unable to stand trial.
There were also unusual delay requests:
Kramer's attorneys asked the court in 2006 to let him travel to Israel to explore emigrating there as part of a plea agreement. The court agreed. Kramer made the trip, but Israel wouldn't take someone convicted of child molestation, Porter said.
His trial was scheduled for July 2008 but was delayed because one of his lawyers, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, was the Libertarian presidential candidate that November.
The case stalled again in 2009 when Kramer's lawyers argued his health would prevent him from effectively participating at trial.
Porter learned in September 2011 that Kramer was staying in a Connecticut motel room with a 14-year-old boy, which the prosecutor said violated his bond conditions. Kramer said he was a guardian for the teen, who was in a film being shot there.
Porter said Kramer was seen hiking and not using his breathing apparatus, suggesting Kramer wasn't too infirm for trial.
Kramer's bond was revoked.