DragonCon co-founder appears in court following arrest

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The co-founder of DragonCon, who's a convicted child molester, appeared in court Thursday morning after being arrested for taking a cell phone picture of a 7-year-old boy. 

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Edward Kramer is accused of taking the photo of the boy at a doctors Lawrenceville office. The charges he faces is one count of being a registered sex offender taking a photograph of a minor without permission of the legal guardian or parent. 

Kramer was wheeled into his first appearance hearing with his breathing tank. He claimed he hasn't been allowed to talk to his lawyer and said he wasn't sure what was going on. 

At the hearing, the judge granted Kramer a $22,200 bond; however, even if he posts bond, he'll remain behind bars because he's also being held on a probation violation. As part of the probation violation, he'll appear in court on March 22 at 8:30 a.m. 

Police bodycam video shows Kramer being arrested at his doctor’s office in Lawrenceville on Wednesday. The police report indicated Kramer was seen by several people watching a child which was followed by the flash of his phone camera then by Kramer placing the phone to his ear after he’d been spotted.

Denise Simmons, the boy’s mother, said a woman who called police didn’t immediately realize what was going on.

“She just thought maybe he was looking for a signal until the flash went off, of him taking a picture of my son, of him taking a picture of my son,” said Simmons.

She said she was with her husband and their 7-year-old son at her husband’s pulmonary specialist office in Lawrenceville last Thursday afternoon.

Kramer was also there and police said that’s when he photographed Simmons’ son.

“This is not right he should not be able to get away with this,” said Simmons.

Kramer is the co-founder of Atlanta’s famed DragonCon, a pop cultural collection of sci-fi, gaming, comic characters and everything in between.

He was under monitored house arrest since late 2013 when he was convicted of child molestation.

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter told FOX 5 News when house arrest ended in December of last year Kramer was put on probation.

One of the conditions was no contact with children.

“He’s being held without bond because there’s a probation warrant. That’s why he’s being held without bond,” said Porter.

Porter said Kramer is facing a misdemeanor charge of a sexual offender photographing a minor without consent.

The DA told FOX 5 News he’s moving forward with revocation of probation for Kramer which could mean a lengthy stay behind bars.

“We need to go back and revoke his first offender and incarcerate him. He faces up to 60 years in prison,” said Porter.

He also said his office is analyzing thumb drives, computers and other electronics seized at Kramer’s home to see if there are other victims.

Denise Simmons said she doesn’t want anyone else hurt.

“I don’t care if he sits in jail and rotted away as long as he’s not doing something to another child,” said Simmons.

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