Prosecutors appealing no prison time for ex-cop convicted of sexual assault of two girls

Scott County prosecutors are appealing a judge’s decision to sentence a former New Ulm cop to 25 years of probation after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two girls.

Eric Gramentz pleaded guilty in January to three counts of criminal sexual conduct with a child from 2015 to 2022.

He was sentenced by District Judge Allison Krehbiel to eight years in prison, but the sentence was suspended, during which he’d be on probation. So long as he doesn’t violate the terms of his probation, he wouldn’t serve any prison time. (He’d already served a year in jail prior to that during adjudication.)

A pre-sentence investigation — which delves into the person’s background and helps the judge come up with an appropriate sentence — recommended a 34-year sentence, which Scott County prosecutors argued for at sentencing.

Krehbiel granted his attorney’s request that she depart from sentencing guidelines because his victim requested he not be sent to prison, and a psychosexual evaluation concluded he would be amenable to probation and outpatient sex offender treatment. 

In his filing to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, Assistant Scott County Attorney Todd Zettler questioned whether the judge abused her discretion in granting probation. 

Among many probation conditions, the judge barred Gramentz from unsupervised contact with people under 18 until his probation officer decides supervision is no longer necessary and banned him from having pornographic or sexually explicit material, social media accounts or internet use except if authorized by his probation officer.