'You May Be the Tall, Young, Hot Nymph, But I Am the Prize'

Quite a prize

Now this dude is smooth. Problem is, he's no longer much of a prize.

Calumet County Dist. Atty. Ken Kratz resigned as chairman of the Wisconsin Crime Victims Rights Board after the victim in a domestic abuse case he was prosecuting complained to police that Kratz sent her repeated text messages seeking an affair.

Kratz, who was prosecuting Stephanie Van Groll's ex-boyfriend on charges he nearly choked her to death, sent her 30 texts in three days in October 2009, according to documents compiled by the Kaukauna Police Department and obtained Wednesday by The Post-Crescent.

"Are you the kind of girl that likes secret contact with an older married elected DA ... the riskier the better?" Kratz, 50, wrote in a message to the woman.

In another, Kratz wrote, "I'm the attorney. I have the $350,000 house. I have the six-figure career. You may be the tall, young, hot nymph, but I am the prize."

After Van Groll complained to Kaukauna police, Kratz reported his actions to the state Office of Lawyer Regulation, which handles disciplinary actions against attorneys. The office said earlier this year it would not pursue disciplinary action against him.

"Although (Kratz's) communication with you was inappropriate, it did not appear to involve possible professional misconduct," Cynthia Schally, a lawyer regulation investigator, wrote March 5 to Van Groll.

Kratz released his file on the case to The P-C after an anonymous source contacted The Associated Press about the complaint. He said the text messages are "embarrassing and stupid, but not horrible."

For the record, Kratz is a Republican.

A slew of the text messages can be seen here.