Wisconsin Weirdo

He worked in the D.A.'s office?

"Wis. prosecutor pleads no contest" ASSOCIATED PRESS, June 16, 2012

MADISON, Wis. - A former Wisconsin prosecutor accused of rampant sexual harassment agreed Friday to plead no contest to six ethics violations, moving his case closer to resolution.

The Office of Lawyer Regulation filed a complaint in November against Ken Kratz, a former Calumet County District Attorney, alleging 11 breaches of state Supreme Court attorney conduct rules. The office accused him of soliciting a domestic abuse victim in a barrage of sleazy text messages, forcing a woman he prosecuted to have sex with him, and making sexual remarks to other women.  

It must have felt like another violation of their humanity.

The office urged the court to suspend Kratz’s law license for six months.

That's it? A six-month suspension?

He faces no criminal charges.   

Can you text me that again?

See: Ex-Wis. prosecutor will not face charges over risqué texting

What?

Kratz said Friday that he has reached an deal with Office of Lawyer Recognition attorney Tom Basting to plead no contest to three counts alleging his text messages to the domestic abuse victim created a conflict of interest and amounted to sexual harassment. He also agreed to plead no contest to three counts alleging he made lurid comments to social workers.

In turn, Basting dropped two counts accusing Kratz of engaging in offensive personality and sexually harassing the woman he prosecuted. The attorney earlier dropped another count accusing Kratz of violating a state law mandating crime victims be treated with respect, as well as two counts accusing him of sexually harassing a law school graduate who sought help with a pardon for a drug conviction. Basting said he did not think he could prove the five charges.

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Related: Wisconsin Wild Man

Got some wild weather out there I see:

"Three die in crashes after heavy rain washes out highway in Wisconsin" Associated Press, June 22, 2012

WILLARD, Wis. — Heavy rainfall washed away a 50-foot stretch of highway in central Wisconsin and three people were killed when their vehicles plunged into the resulting ravine and the raging water below, authorities said Thursday.

The crashes occurred in the tiny town of Willard, about 50 miles southeast of Eau Claire....

The National Weather Service said the area received only 1 to 3 inches of rain Wednesday night, but meteorologist Todd Shea added that the area had been saturated from heavy rain in previous days. He said about 4 inches had fallen over seven days, leading to saturated soil that could not absorb much more water.... 

The washout occurred about 200 miles south of Duluth, Minn., where heavy rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday created flooding that killed a dozen barnyard animals at a zoo and allowed a polar bear and two harbor seals to temporarily escape their enclosures....

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Related:

"Duluth residents, zoo animals, including polar bear, flee torrential downpours" Associated Press, June 21, 2012

DULUTH, Minn. — Residents fled their homes and animals escaped from pens at a zoo as floods fed by a steady, torrential downpour struck northeastern Minnesota, inundating Duluth, officials said Wednesday.

Police officers helped track down a polar bear that got out of its enclosure overnight at the low-lying Lake Superior Zoo, where several animals drowned....

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Also see: Wisconsin Recall Recall