Former St. Lucie County sheriff's deputy ordered to prison for soliciting sex from women
FORT PIERCE — Fired St. Lucie County sheriff’s deputy Evan Cramer stood silent as he was ordered Monday to serve seven years in prison, but not before he heard from three women he was accused of coercing into committing sex acts to avoid going to jail.
“You're a very disgusting and disgraceful person to the community and to law enforcement. That night I will never forget,” said a woman as she delivered a victim impact statement. “I pray to God your time of incarceration will never be forgotten in your mind either.”
Cramer, 33, of Port St. Lucie, is expected to serve about 3 ½ years in prison after being given credit for 1,600 days in jail after his arrest on duty in January 2017.
He was initially charged with sexual battery related to an incident with a 31-year-old woman while he was on duty, Sheriff Ken Mascara said at the time.
Cramer was accused of negotiating a sex act in exchange for not taking the woman to jail.
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Over the next few months, additional charges were filed resulting in Cramer facing 15 offences, including five counts of sexual battery by a law enforcement officer, kidnapping and three counts of soliciting or accepting unlawful compensation as a public servant.
He was arrested again in June 2017 while incarcerated at the St. Lucie County Jail after he was accused of punching a fellow inmate in the face and putting him in a headlock, arrest affidavits show.
But in a plea deal reached in April, state prosecutors dropped multiple counts of sexual battery and other felonies that spared Cramer potentially decades in prison.
Some of Cramer’s victims who spoke up in court said his plea bargain with the state that capped his prison time at seven years wasn’t harsh enough.
“You used your position to control and manipulate vulnerable people,” said the first woman who spoke, her voice choked with emotion. “I feel like in your mind you are laughing because you feel like you're getting away with something right now.”
Initially held on a bond of nearly $2.5 million, Cramer was incarcerated a little more than four years before being released on a reduced bond of $627,000, according to jail records.
After Cramer was initially accused of stopping a woman for a traffic offense and talking her into performing a sexual act on him at a remote location, a woman in January 2017 said Cramer was on patrol when he stopped her in Fort Pierce.
He accused her of riding her bicycle on the wrong side of the road. Cramer told her to meet him behind a building, where they went into his patrol car and she performed a sex act.
The Sheriff's Office GPS system for Cramer's patrol car matches what she said about the various locations. A court-approved search of his phone matched calls with the times the woman said they were together.
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During an April hearing, Cramer pleaded no contest to aggravated battery with great harm, which was reduced from a count of sexual battery by a law enforcement officer; two counts of public servant soliciting or accepting unlawful compensation; and one count of aggravated battery by a detainee with great harm.
He also agreed to forfeit his law enforcement certification, records show.
After the April hearing, Assistant State Attorney David Dodd said the plea terms were reached because “over time, there has been a substantial erosion in the strength of the state’s case” against Cramer.
“This erosion of proof has the potential to adversely impact a jury’s view of the evidence,” Dodd said. “Not willing to risk the prospect of this defendant’s conduct going unpunished, it was decided that this plea was in the best interest of the citizens of this circuit.”
Dodd though, declined to be more specific about what may have negatively impacted the state’s ability to prove the charges against Cramer beyond a reasonable doubt had he gone on trial.
A woman who appeared Monday in court via Zoom, said she’s still haunted by her encounter with Evan and at one point had a mental breakdown.
“You took advantage of me at a low point in my life. I no longer have any trust in the police. You stopped me, harassed me, gave me drugs, and sexually assaulted me four times,” she said. “You are a disgrace to law enforcement. I still suffer PTSD from then.”
She said she was “deeply disturbed” his punishment won’t include probation or a requirement to register as a sex offender.
“My only regret is that I was too scared to turn you in. Maybe the other woman wouldn't have suffered as I did,” she said. “I believe you deserve more punishment than what you are getting. But your day of judgment will come when you stand before God.”
The man who Cramer assaulted in jail told Circuit Judge William Roby he’ll be brain damaged for life.
“He (Cramer) made choices to take from people their self-esteem, my health and the sense of safety in society,” he said via Zoom. “He took from others, he took from me, he took from those young ladies.”
Addressing Cramer directly, the man added, “I hope prison is miserable for you.”
Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers, and is writer and co-host of Uncertain Terms, a true crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Fired St. Lucie sheriff's deputy Evan Cramer to serve seven years
