'Well-Dressed' Alleged Groper Is A Lawyer Without A Job

Apparently the "well-dressed" or "gentleman" alleged groper is a frustrated lawyer...

Our long national nightmare is over. Law enforcement authorities claim that the so-called “Well-Dressed Groper” or “Gentleman Groper” has finally been caught.

For those outside the New York area who don’t understand how a man who is accused of sexual assault earned the aforementioned monikers, I don’t know what to tell you. I think it probably has something to do with the New York media not being particularly interested in the sexual assault that happens to working-class women all across this city, but this guy was allegedly grabbing the asses of educated women, and he doesn’t wear a hoodie, so… WELL DRESSED GROPER.

The other interesting twist is that this time the police believe they have the right man. Which means that there was a time when they caught and accused the wrong man.

The innocent man was well-dressed, but not a struggling attorney, so I always thought that bust was fishy…

Police have arrested Paul Kraft, 31, and charged him with five counts of forcible touching and sexual abuse. He’s ben described in Gothamist as “a lawyer that had trouble finding permanent employment and worked several temp jobs.

According to an Above the Law source, “He graduated from law school a few years ago and has been bouncing around legal jobs a bit.” Our source said that Kraft went to the University of Minnesota Law School and once was an associate at a small firm in the greater New York area. But he’s not there now, and there could always be more than one “Paul Kraft.”

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We want to be careful here, because there’s already been one guy wrongly accused of this crime.

Cops initially arrested Karl Vanderwoude, a guy who teaches Bible classes. Vanderwoude is also “well dressed.” And we all know the NYPD’s legendary reputation for rounding up white guys in suits with open collars.

Vanderwoude was cleared after a mountain of alibi evidence showed that he was somewhere else while women were being assaulted.

Obviously, we don’t know yet if Kraft has an alibi or other exonerating evidence. But if there are women who went to law school with him, please do drop us a line. May all allegedly grabbed asses come forward.

Meanwhile, I await Chuck Klosterman’s piece about why it’s ethical for men to use nice clothes to advertise that they are nice, normal New Yorkers, when their intention is to simply sexually abuse unsuspecting victims.

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Woman Who Dined With Alleged “Gentleman Groper” Says He Dyed Hair, Waxed Eyebrows After NYPD Released Pics [Gothamist]
Tape, receipts clear Park Slope man accused of being ‘preppy groper’ who grabbed women in chic neighborhoods [Daily News]