Days Before Election, Allegations Against Krupa Persist
This article was originally written by: Jacob Toner Gosselin’, ‘Kaeli Subberwal’, ‘Dylan Wells
Content warning: Allegations of abusive relationship, stalking, and harassment.
On February 6th, University of Chicago College Republicans President Brett Barbin spoke to David Krupa, a candidate for alderman in Chicago’s 13th Ward, over the phone. They discussed allegations against Krupa made by the candidate’s ex-girlfriend, Juliet Schmidt. These allegations are outlined in an emergency order of protection filed by Schmidt’s family, which has since been vacated.
The content of the conversation left Barbin unsettled, and he came to Gate reporters with his concerns. The Gate has since spoken with Barbin, Krupa, Schmidt, and others to investigate the allegations ahead of the February 26th Chicago election.
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Krupa, 19, is the youngest candidate in the upcoming municipal elections. Born in Chicago, Krupa attended Fenwick High School, a private Catholic school in Oak Park, and is currently a freshman at DePaul University. Beyond taking classes and campaigning for alderman, Krupa also works six hours a day for FedEx. Krupa is running as an Independent, and has centered his platform around bipartisan issues like infrastructure and the pension crisis. He has been endorsed by the Chicago Tribune.
Krupa’s opponent is Marty Quinn, a two-term incumbent. The last time an incumbent alderman was challenged in an election in the 13th Ward was in 1991. Quinn has tried to continue this streak by challenging Krupa’s petitions to get on the ballot, filing affidavits from nearly 2,800 voters saying that they did not intend to sign Krupa’s petitions. However, Krupa and his attorney claimed that most of these affidavits were fabricated, and Quinn’s campaign subsequently withdrew the challenge.
Although Krupa has overcome Quinn’s opposition and made it onto the ballot in the southwest Chicago ward, his candidacy faces another challenge in the form of allegations against him by his high school ex-girlfriend.
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On June 23, 2017, Michael Schmidt, Juliet’s father, filed an emergency order of protection (embedded below this article), prohibiting Krupa from having any contact with his daughter or the rest of the Schmidt family. The documents allege abusive behavior including stalking, harassment, emotional abuse, and nonconsensual condom removal.
An emergency order of protection (EOP) is a civil legal measure that does not require the respondent (Krupa in this case) to be notified when the order is filed. Because of this, emergency orders of protection are limited in term: they last only 21 days, after which a hearing must be scheduled between the parties. This hearing can be postponed, and the order can be extended in the meantime. In this case, at each hearing the order was extended for another three months, meaning that the order was in effect for a total of nine months. The standard of proof for these orders is a “preponderance of evidence,” a lesser standard of proof than that in criminal cases.
“There are details in [the court documents] which indicate why we felt it necessary,” Michael Schmidt told the Gate. “In the end [Juliet] very clearly wanted to break free of [Krupa] and he was not listening to her. And it came down to it that the order of protection was necessary.”
Krupa claims that the allegations in the documents were falsified by Michael Schmidt in order to keep the couple apart.
“He didn’t feel like she was able to handle a relationship at that time due to family and personal issues. We both wanted to see each other, but he did not [want us to]. So he filed to keep us away from each other,” Krupa said.
However, Juliet Schmidt told the Gate that she agreed with her parents that an EOP was necessary, and that she was afraid of seeing Krupa at the time the order of protection was filed.
Schmidt said the idea of filing an order of protection was first suggested by a social worker she met with due to issues in her relationship with Krupa. Her teacher, Amy Fritsch, confirmed she sent Schmidt to see the social worker during school hours. Her father corroborated that the idea of filing an EOP was first proposed by the social worker. Schmidt said that her father filed the EOP on her behalf due to the fact she was only 17 years old at the time. “My dad did file it,” she said, “but it was my decision.”
Schmidt said that she was anxious at the thought of seeing Krupa in a hearing, which led her to postpone a hearing three times. “My lawyer would give me advice on what would happen during a hearing and I wasn’t ready because it was traumatic,” she said. While the EOP was in place, Schmidt said “that separation from [Krupa] was good,” but “there was still that anxiety surrounding going to court and seeing him.”
Krupa argued that the claim that Juliet was too upset to face him in court was a pretext for Michael Schmidt to keep the two apart: “[Michael Schmidt] knew, once it went to a hearing, it would be vacated. Which is why they delayed it for nine months.”
According to Barbin’s statement about his call with Krupa on February 6th, Krupa “said the judge in the case was never going to side with him because she was female. He wished he had had a white, male judge who had faced these kinds of allegations in the past, stating that then he would have been fine.” In an interview with the Gate, Krupa said “the judge was a Hispanic woman. Not that it matters, like I said. But people care about those things. Some people might say, ‘oh, well he might of had a male judge that didn’t really have sympathy for [Schmidt].’”
Krupa has claimed Schmidt’s allegations are the result of her being manipulated by Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, Alderman Quinn’s close ally. Schmidt had interned for the Madigan-Quinn 13th Ward office in 2016. However, as POLITICO first reported, Krupa also worked for Madigan-Quinn in 2015. Krupa told the Gate “she was a Madigan intern. That much is confirmed. She has it on her Facebook page. I remember the time she had gotten the job.” Schmidt, however, said she thought Krupa’s claim that her allegations are politically motivated is funny, because Krupa “set me up with that job.” “He worked there the previous summer and he told me, ‘yeah, you should apply,’” Schmidt said, “I was like, ‘oh, okay, yeah. Sure. I’ll apply.’ And I applied. I got the job.”
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The EOP outlines several allegations against Krupa. In the affidavit Schmidt describes stalking, harassment, and an emotionally unhealthy relationship. Among the claims is the occurrence of nonconsensual condom removal.
Schmidt alleges in the EOP that on or about May 29th, 2017, at approximately 9:00pm, Krupa “removed the condom while we were having sex without my knowledge or consent.” Schmidt’s affidavit attests that Krupa told her “after the fact that he had removed it,” and that she “felt violated and really scared of getting pregnant.”
When asked about the allegation in an interview with the Gate, Krupa denied it and said “The only thing I could think of is that maybe the condom broke. That’s the only thing that can come to my mind because I never intentionally removed it.” Krupa later added, “So like if that did happen, that’s also, you know, whatever you wanna name it. Some kind of violation or whatever, and that would probably also maybe warrant an order of protection.”
Krupa said that “If she objected to it, then she would’ve said something.” He added “I think, you know, I used a condom every time that she wanted me to use a condom. And I never like ‘fooled you,’ like pulled a Quagmire, I never did that,” referencing a character from the TV show Family Guy.
Schmidt told the Gate she was not aware Krupa had removed the condom until after the fact. “I started freaking out,” she said. Schmidt told her friend Alyssa Hilko about the incident at the time. Hilko told the Gate that Schmidt “told us that she and David had been having sex the night before and he took off the condom while they were having sex.”
Fritsch also told the Gate that Schmidt informed her of the incident involving Krupa removing the condom at the time it happened.
Schmidt told her friend Maxwell Kroll about the incident (as he confirmed to Gate reporters), and he and Schmidt visited a Planned Parenthood the day after, on May 31st. Schmidt provided the Gate with a copy of her receipt from Planned Parenthood, which shows a purchase for emergency contraception. Kroll said “I went with her to Planned Parenthood because she was really, really scared about that.”