GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The Dragon Con co-founder, a Gwinnett County judge and two others were indicted Wednesday for their involvement in a complicated hacking case.
A Gwinnett County Grand Jury indicted Frank Karic, T.J. Ward, Superior Court Judge Kathryn Schrader, and Dragon Con co-founder Edward Kramer, on three counts of computer trespass for their alleged role in the illegal access the Gwinnett County Justice Center computer network.
The investigation was conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Bench warrants were issued at the time of indictment. Bond amounts were set at $25,000 for Frank Karic and T.J. Ward. A consent bond order was issued for Judge Schrader. No bond was given to Kramer.
According to allegations in a court filing earlier this year, Judge Schrader suspected that District Attorney Daniel Porter was hacking into her county computer. The defense attorney says that the judge launched a clandestine hacking investigation involving a private investigator, along with the private eye's employee, Ed Kramer.
Labeled as a “sexually dangerous predator,” Kramer has been convicted on three counts of child molestation dating back to 2000. He was sentenced to 20 years – the first five under house arrest after pleading guilty. The remainder of his sentence was to be served on probation.
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Schrader tried to find out if Porter was the hacker. According to the document, she didn’t report her suspicions to the GBI – instead, she hired private investigator T.J. Ward.
The court filing says Ward assigned one of his employees to monitor and analyze all of the activity on Judge Schrader’s computer remotely, 24 hours per day – and that employee was Kramer, working remotely from his home.
Dragon Con, the Atlanta-based sci-fi and fantasy convention, bought out Kramer’s ownership shares in 2013, and he is no longer affiliated with the organization.
Porter denied having anything to do with Kramer’s arrest or subsequent raid of his home and equipment. Porter also denied hacking into the judge’s computer. However, Porter confirmed later that he did ask the GBI to investigate the reports of hacking.
An arraignment date will be scheduled by the court.
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