DragonCon co-founder pleads guilty to child molestation

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The co-founder of the science fiction convention DragonCon pleaded guilty to three counts of child molestation – one for each of his victims.

Edward Elliot Kramer pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement. He was sentenced to 34 months of house arrest and he will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life. He cannot leave Gwinnett County.

Kramer was also ordered to pay each of his victims $100,000 no later than July 31, 2014.

Kramer was first arrested in Gwinnett County on Aug. 25, 2000, on accusations that he sexually abused three teenage boys. But he was believed to be physically incapable to stand trial due to spinal and respiratory problems and was released on bond. He resigned from DragonCon the same year.

Kramer was under house arrest for several years, but was later allowed to travel between Georgia and New Jersey or New York to receive medical treatments or visit his ailing mother. But he was required to report his location weekly and was not to have unsupervised contact with children under 16, according to the bond conditions.

In September 2011, Kramer was arrested in Milford, Conn., when he was allegedly found alone in a hotel room with a 14-year-old boy. Kramer claimed to be a guardian of the child, who had a role in a low-budget movie that was being filmed in town, Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter previously said.

Kramer fought extradition to Georgia, but in December, he lost an appeal to the Connecticut Court of Appeals that would have stopped his return. Kramer was being held Monday without bond, jail records show.

WSBTV