SPARTA, Wis. –A Sparta man, Ethan E. Karls, a massage therapist charged with fondling women, wants the prosecution to produce evidence that there was indeed a crime. Karls did this by requesting a special preliminary hearing before a judge. It is known that the county prosecutor, Kevin Croninger, was slow to file charges because he had doubts whether the case would stand up in court. But the women who accused Karls made an issue of it and pressured Croninger publicly by suggesting he was he was soft on crime. In the meantime, Karls is free on bond.
