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DA: DragonCon founder used single mothers to meet victims

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — A co-founder of a popular science fiction convention in Atlanta has been arrested on child molestation charges.

Booked into the Gwinnett County Jail wearing a neck brace and breathing tubes, Edward Kramer, 51, is facing child molestation charges dating back to the year 2000.

"He's managed to avoid responsibility for so long for what he's done," said Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter.

Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh obtained video of Kramer getting booked into the jail on Saturday.

The video shows Kramer in a wheel chair and being escorted by a nurse. Porter said the medical devices could be mere costuming, efforts to postpone the judicial process.

Kramer is one of the co-founders of DragonCon, a popular sci-fi convention. Porter said there's evidence Kramer used DragonCon to meet his first of three alleged victims.

"He becomes involved in relationships with single parents, single moms, then he molests their sons," Porter said.

Porter believes Kramer used that pattern again in 2011.

"I received a call that he was in Connecticut, and when the Connecticut authorities went in, he was in a hotel room with a 14-year-old boy," Porter told Kavanaugh.

After years of legal motions and hearings, Kramer had been out of jail on bond and was allowed limited travel for certain medical treatments.

Porter said Kramer suffers from diabetes and a form of arthritis. But he questions the severity of them and Kramer's other alleged conditions.

Kramer fought returning to the Gwinnett County Jail for 15 months. He lost his final appeal in Connecticut Supreme Court last week.

Porter said he's pushing for resolution on this case. Though he fears there are more victims out there.

"There's no question in my mind," Porter said. "And, if they were to come forward now they would be able to tell their story in a courtroom."

Kavanaugh requested an interview with Kramer at the jail. Jail officials said that was not possible because he was in the medical unit.

Kavanaugh reached out to his attorney, but he is out of the country until next week.

Porter said he plans to file a motion to get the trial back on the docket by the end of the week.

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