Amanda Crafts loses Middle Township teaching job after casino hotel arrest
The computer teacher was charged with robbery and sexual assault in a scheme that netted her friend $1,250.
By Alina Marshall ·
Amanda Crafts, a computer teacher in Middle Township, New Jersey, was fired following her arrest in a casino hotel robbery and sexual assault case.
Police say the 35-year-old Wildwood Crest resident met a man at a bar in an Atlantic City hotel resort on Oct. 9. The man exchanged phone numbers with Crafts and her friend, Veda Engel, 23, of Cape May. He then followed the two women to their hotel room.
According to the police complaint, the two women stripped the victim and physically restrained him to the bed. Engel forced sexual acts on the man before stopping and saying, “That’s what you get for $1,250,” according to the complaint.
While Crafts held the victim down, Engel used his facial recognition to unlock his phone. She made four separate Apple Pay transactions totaling $1,250 to her account. A detective wrote in the affidavits that the transactions were made without the victim’s consent in exchange for sexual acts.
Crafts appeared by video from the Atlantic County Justice Facility for her first court date. She told Judge Timothy Maguire that she was a teacher and had no prior arrest record. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said. Crafts stated she has four children and works in the school’s special area department.
The Middle Township school district confirmed the firing in a statement released on Oct. 19. Superintendent Stephanie DeRose said the district’s responsibility is to protect students and ensure staff meet expected standards. “The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority,” DeRose said.
Engel, who works at SoFresh SoClean Commercial Cleaning in Ocean City, was also released on Oct. 15 after being held for nearly a week. The state consented to pretrial release for both women, requiring them to check in with the court every other week. Engel has a prior prostitution charge from December of last year, when she allegedly offered sex to an undercover detective at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa for $1,000.
Source: Fox News
