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A New Jersey middle school teacher was arrested for being the alleged muscle in a wild hooker caper in an Atlantic City casino hotel — but the since-fired educator claims it was an epic misunderstanding and she was there “strictly to party.”
Amanda Crafts, 35, a computer teacher at Middle Township Middle School, and Veda Engel, 23, allegedly bamboozled an unsuspecting John on Oct. 9 — pinning down the nude man while transferring $1,250 out of his ApplePay account which they accessed using his cellphone’s facial-recognition feature, the man told authorities
The alleged scheme unfolded at the hotel bar of Caesar’s Atlantic City, where the unidentified victim met Engel and Crafts, both of Cape May County, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Post.
There he exchanged phone numbers with Engel, who later called the man and invited him to a hotel room at Harrah’s Resort, the document said.
The accuser told police that when he arrived at the room, the two sirens stripped him naked before Crafts held him down and Engel performed a sex act, according to the complaint.
Engel then abruptly stopped and said, “That’s what you get for your $1,250,” according to Breaking AC.
Crafts, who weighs 180 pounds, continued to pin the man down as Engel held up his iPhone to his face to use facial recognition to open his phone, the man told police. Engel then opened Apple Pay and made four separate transfers to her account totaling $1,250, the alleged victim said, according to the complaint.
But lawyers for Crafts, a single mother of four, said she had no part in the alleged theft and did not hold the man down at all — and that she was completely unaware that Engel was allegedly engaging in prostitution.
“I’ve never been to jail,” Crafts told Judge Timothy Maguire at a video hearing on Oct.10, Breaking AC reported.
“I’ve never been arrested before. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she contended.
Crafts’ attorney claims she met Engel and the unidentified John at Caesar’s that same night, and thought they were going to a hotel room at Harrah’s to keep the party going — unaware that there may be any plans to exchange cash for sex.
“Amanda Crafts is highly intelligent and wouldn’t participate in anything like that. She was in the room and wanted to leave and didn’t even realize it was a prostitution thing,” her attorney Charles Peruto Jr. told The Post, adding, “She is mortified.”
at Caesars in Atlantic City. New Jersey Courts
The John called cops to the room only after he prematurely ejaculated and Engel ended the session — upset because he paid for an hour of dirty deeds that ended well before his time was up, the attorney alleged.
Crafts was there “strictly to party” and not to participate in any prostitution or scam, he asserted.
“Maybe the prostitute took advantage of him but my client had nothing to do with it,” the lawyer said.
Engel has a previous charge for prostitution from December 2025 after she was accused of offering sex in exchange for $1,000 to an undercover New Jersey State Police detective at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, Breaking AC reported. She was ordered to pay a summons for that charge.
Crafts and Engel were held at the Atlantic County Justice Facility for six days and were released on Oct. 15, according to state records.
Crafts had served as a computer teacher at Middle Township Middle School in Cape May since 2016, according to LinkedIn.
The school announced that Crafts was “no longer employed by the district,” in a letter to families and staff on Oct. 19.
“The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority,” Stephanie DeRose, Superintendent of Schools in Middle Township Public Schools, wrote in the letter.