Man Gets 6 Months in Daughter’s Drowning

A Fullerton man whose 3-year-old daughter drowned on the shores of Lake Elsinore while he jet-skied was sentenced Friday to 180 days in jail.

Edwin Cramer, 32, was sentenced by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Charles Morgan. Cramer, who earlier pleaded guilty to felony child endangerment, would have faced up to six years in jail had he been convicted by a jury.

Beyond jail, his sentence includes four years of probation.

Investigators and prosecutors said Cramer brought his daughter and 4-year-old son in August 1999 to a popular campground at the 3,300-acre lake west of Interstate 15 near the Orange County line.

Though Cramer insisted that the children were alone for just five minutes, Riverside County Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Spira said Friday that witnesses told investigators the children were left unsupervised for as long as 45 minutes.

While Cramer was riding a motorized water ski, a group of teenagers discovered the daughter, Ilana, face-down in about 6 inches of water. She was pronounced dead a short time later. Ilana had a form of cerebral palsy that reduced her motor skills, Spira said.

Cramer’s lawyer, who could not be reached for comment Friday, had argued that charging Cramer would only compound his grief, but Spira said he believed a message needed to be sent.

“The role [of parents] in our mind is very basic: You do not leave children unattended near any body of water,” he said. “You can read ‘Dear Abby’ any day of the week and they talk about children drowning in buckets of water. You just don’t do it. And we do hope to send that message out.”