A New Jersey computer teacher has been sacked and arrested after allegedly helping an accomplice rob a man using his phone's Face ID during a casino hotel encounter. Amanda Crafts, 35, from Middle Township, is accused of acting as the muscle in the alleged plot alongside 23-year-old Veda Engel.
Alleged Casino Hotel Encounter
The incident reportedly began at the hotel bar inside Caesars Atlantic City on October 9, where the victim got chatting to both women, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The New York Post. After swapping numbers with Engel, the man was allegedly lured to a room at Harrah's Resort.
The victim told police that once inside, the pair stripped him bare. Crafts allegedly used her 12-stone frame to pin him down while Engel performed a sex act on him, the complaint claimed. Engel then suddenly halted the action, telling the man: "That's what you get for your $1,250," local outlet Breaking AC reported.
Face ID Theft and Arrests
While Crafts allegedly kept him pinned to the mattress, Engel unlocked the man's iPhone with Face ID and made four separate cash transfers into her own account, swiping $1,250 (£934) from his Apple Pay account, according to the complaint.
Both women were arrested and spent six days at the Atlantic County Justice Facility before being released on October 15. Crafts, a single mother of four who has since been fired from Middle Township Middle School, denied being a casino heavy. "I've never been to jail," she told Judge Timothy Maguire during a video hearing. "I've never been arrested before. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Lawyer's Defence and School Response
Crafts's lawyer, Charles Peruto Jr, insisted she had no idea Engel was turning tricks and had only joined the group to keep the booze flowing. "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 realise it was a prostitution thing," Peruto told The Post, adding: "She is mortified."
Peruto claimed the man only called police because things finished too quickly, alleging the client called cops in a strop after he prematurely ejaculated and Engel ended the session early, despite having paid for a full hour. "Maybe the prostitute took advantage of him but my client had nothing to do with it," Peruto said.
Engel was previously charged with prostitution in December 2025 after allegedly offering an undercover state trooper sex for $1,000 at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, according to Breaking AC. School bosses confirmed Crafts was fired shortly after her arrest, writing to parents that she was "no longer employed by the district" and stressing that student safety remains their "highest priority."
