New Ulm Police Officer Eric Gramentz was arrested this week on charges of first and second degree criminal sexual conduct. He is currently being held in the Brown County Jail on $500,000 bail. The city has placed Gramentz on leave, but has not said if the leave is paid or not.
It is not clear if there are more than one victim at this time. Media reports indicate that the charge of first degree criminal sexual conduct stems from the molestation of a girl under the age of 13 beginning when she was 11. Those same reports indicate that the victim of the second degree criminal sexual conduct charge was involved in a significant relationship with Gramentz. Gramentz's fellow officers have accused him of confessing and giving graphic details. They say that Gramentz admitted to telling a girl that she could cure stomach pain by masturbating and touching her pubic area to teach her how. They say he admitted to touching her more than once, but less than 15 times. Social workers claim that the victim report to them that Gramentz had once attempted to penetrate her digitally and that she once woke up with his penis in her hand.
Officers claim that Gramentz said that he realized he needed help after he taught her how to masturbate. We think his "cry for help" is simply a self serving effort at a reduced sentence on diminished capacity grounds. When this author was a federal prisoner it became obvious that sex offenders often go running to psychology or the chapel trying to make themselves look like they're sick or remorseful, needed help, and therefore shouldn't be in prison as long. We hope that nobody buys it. Unless this guy was demonically possessed he was perfectly capable of not touching that girl. Gramentz further admitted that he continued the "relationship" because it was sexually "something different" and felt "risky." We believe him because it explains why he chose of his own free will to try something different even though he knew it was risky because touching little girls like that is a serious crime. Finally, Gramentz told fellow officers that he knew he needed to stop molesting the girl after the last time he put his hand down her pants, so it sounds like he knew he needed to stop and touched her anyway.
According to public records, Eric Alan Gramentz is a 42 year old resident of New Elm, Minnesota last known to reside on Payne Street. We are not listing the house number because he is currently in jail and we think that just living with him should be punishment enough for anyone there. We normally don't mention the street without listing the full address, but in this case we appreciate that irony of the fact that as a cop and pedophile he will probably complete the move from Payne Street to pain street if he doesn't post bail.
Gramentz could be linked to the email addresses egramentz1[at]hotmail.com and egramentz[at]hotmail.com. Five Hole Apparel LLC appears on a list of possible associates at the same address as him. According to the State of Minnesota, Five Hole Apparel LLC was registered to Gramentz as a domestic LLC located at his residence. His business license expired on 12/31/2021 (https://mblsportal.sos.state.mn.us/Business/SearchDetails?filingGuid=0b87fbbd-3c98-e811-9162-00155d0deff0).