Man allegedly sells friend's jewelry, car for crack

Ronald Kramer, a 48-year-old Greenfield man, was charged Oct. 27 with felony theft for selling his friend's Cadillac and $61,000 worth of his friend's jewelry.

According to the Wauwatosa police report:

Kramer, a recovering alcoholic, was living with his friend in the 6400 block of Upper Parkway North in Wauwatosa. He was allowed to stay alone at the home while his friend was in a hospital out of state.

The friend had been gone for some time when he received a call from his insurance agency; they had gotten an anonymous tip that two young men were driving his car trying to pick up young women.

Concerned, the friend called police and asked them to check whether his cars were at his residence.

Police found and arrested Kramer on the scene, but they didn't find the Cadillac. Kramer, who had keys to the friend's BMW in his pocket, told police that he had permission to drive the cars and that his mother was driving the Cadillac at the time. When pressed, the man's story changed and he said the car had been stolen from him at a gas station.

After getting permission to search the home, police found that the friend's jewelry boxes were missing. They also found two sets of mint currency that did not belong to the friend.

The Greenfield man was booked and sent to the police station, where he was interviewed. His story changed multiple times and he didn't seem completely lucid during the interview, causing police to wait to question him further.

The second interview was more informative for police, with the man admitting to drinking after thinking about his friend being in the hospital, which led to him getting drunk.

The man was having a problem remembering what happened after he got drunk, but knew that at some point he had smoked crack, something he said he'd never done before. The crack kept him up all day and he ended up selling the victim's valuables to be able to buy more crack.

The thefts occured between Oct. 8 and Oct. 22, when the man was arrested.

Remorseful, the man told police he wanted to help the friend find his valuables. He told police how they could find the Cadillac using On-Star.

Police were able to track the stolen vehicle down, stopping it in the 3300 block of West Highland Boulevard. The keys and three people were in the vehicle.

Once at the police station, the driver and passengers denied knowing the car was stolen, saying they got it from their brother who had turned himself into police on an unrelated charge.

The brother refused to give any information regarding the car to police.

Police are tracking down other leads and the investigation is ongoing.

Kramer's preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 5.