Harry Potter Festival organizer charged with theft in Jefferson

The man who brought the Harry Potter Festival to Edgerton and moved it to Jefferson now faces criminal charges and a civil suit alleging he didn't pay his bills.

Scott W. Cramer, a 59-year-old resident of Edgerton, was charged Thursday in Jefferson County Court with theft by false representation, according to court documents.

The theft charge is a class G felony in the state of Wisconsin. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine up to $100,000.

Cramer brought Harry Potter Fest to Edgerton in 2015, and moved it to Jefferson in 2017 when it was formally known as the Harry Potter Festival, he told NBC15 in an interview on Oct. 15, 2018.

The city of Jefferson filed the lawsuit on October 17.

Cramer said Harry Potter festivals were being shut down across the U.S., so it rebranded as the Warriors and Wizards Festival to include movies and comics beyond Harry Potter, Cramer told NBC15 last year.

The city of Jefferson also filed a lawsuit in May against HP Fans, Inc., a Jefferson-based company Cramer owns, per court documents. The case is still open, as there has been no action in the decision aside from a request for copies of documents, per court documents.