TALLAHASSEE — Tallahassee attorney Dayton Michael Cramer, former deputy general counsel at Florida State University, has been indefinitely suspended following an April 3 Florida Supreme Court ruling after his conviction in March for trying to have sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Cramer was suspended until further court order, effective April 19, after he was found guilty by a federal jury of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity, the state bar said in its May 29 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order.
Sentencing for Cramer, who faces 10 years to life in prison, is scheduled during a hearing at 9 a.m. June 5 at the U.S. Courthouse in Tallahassee, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release issued at the time of his conviction.
Tallahassee attorney Dayton Michael Cramer
Cramer was admitted to the Florida Bar on Nov. 30, 1971, according to his profile at the state bar website. No prior discipline is listed on Cramer's profile.
Cramer formerly was chief legal counsel at West Point and was for more than 14 years an FSU in-house counsel, according to information on his LinkedIn page. He is past chair of the Florida Bar Education Law Committee and past vice-chair of the state bar's Military Affairs Committee.
Cramer's arrest followed a weeklong sting operation in February 2017 by agents and officers from the Florida law enforcement community, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Marshals. Cramer was one of 12 arrested as a result of "Operation Cupid’s Arrow," in which investigators used social media to pose as children or to offer access to children for sex, according to the DOJ press release.
"Cramer responded to two Craigslist advertisements in which an undercover officer posed as a 14-year-old girl and also as the stepmother of a 13-year-old girl who was being offered for sex," the DOJ press release said. "Over the course of several days, Cramer discussed sexual activity with various undercover officers and traveled to meet who he thought was the stepmother of the 13-year-old girl to discuss the opportunity to have sex with the girl at a later date. Cramer was arrested after arriving at the designated meeting location."
Cramer's conviction in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee followed a three-day trial.