New Jersey Middle School Teacher Accused Of Acting As Prostitute’s ‘Muscle’ In Atlantic City iPhone Heist

The educator, 35-year-old Amanda Crafts of Cape May County, insists the episode has been badly misconstrued and that she was present “strictly to party,” according to the New York Post, which obtained the criminal complaint and first detailed the case. As reported by Breitbart, the incident has raised fresh concerns among parents and taxpayers about the judgment and conduct of public school employees entrusted with children’s education and safety.

Police allege that Crafts, a former computer teacher at Middle Township Middle School, and 23-year-old Veda Engel orchestrated a scheme to fleece an unsuspecting john on October 9. According to the complaint, the man told authorities that Crafts physically restrained him while the pair accessed his Apple Pay account using his iPhone’s facial recognition and transferred $1,250 out of his account.

The alleged encounter began after the trio met at the hotel bar at Caesar’s Atlantic City, where the unidentified victim encountered Engel and Crafts. After exchanging phone numbers, Engel later called the man and invited him to a room at Harrah’s Resort, where the alleged theft unfolded, according to the police complaint.

During the encounter, Engel allegedly stopped the sexual activity abruptly and reportedly told the man, “That’s what you get for your $1,250.” The complaint further states that Crafts, who is listed as weighing 180 pounds, continued to pin the nude man down while Engel held his iPhone to his face to unlock it and make four separate transfers totaling $1,250.

Crafts, a single mother of four, maintains that this narrative is false and that she played no role in any robbery. Her attorney, Charles Peruto Jr., argues that his client neither restrained the man nor participated in any scheme to steal his money.

Peruto also contends that Crafts did not realize Engel was allegedly engaged in prostitution when she went to the hotel room. “I’ve never been arrested before,” Crafts is quoted as saying. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Amanda Crafts is highly intelligent and wouldn’t participate in anything like that, Peruto told the Post. “She was in the room and wanted to leave and didn’t even realize it was a prostitution thing.”

He added, “She is mortified.” The attorney further claimed that police were summoned by the john after he “prematurely ejaculated” and Engel cut the session short, angering the man, who believed he had paid for a full hour of service that ended far earlier than expected.

“Maybe the prostitute took advantage of him but my client had nothing to do with it,” the lawyer said. Engel, by contrast, already has a criminal history, having been charged with prostitution in December 2025 after allegedly offering sex for $1,000 to an undercover New Jersey State Police detective at a luxury Atlantic City casino resort.

In the current case, both Crafts and Engel were held at the Atlantic County Justice Facility for six days before being released on October 15, according to state records. Crafts’s LinkedIn profile, reviewed by the Post, indicates she had been employed as a computer teacher at Middle Township Middle School since 2016.

On October 19, the school district notified families and staff that Crafts was “no longer employed by the district,” distancing itself swiftly from the scandal. For many parents already wary of cultural decay and moral confusion in public institutions, the case underscores the importance of higher standards and accountability for those placed in authority over children.

Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Masquerade: A True Story of Seduction, Compulsion and Murder, which chronicles the double life of an elite Detroit psychologist and a young street prostitute, exposed only after his murder and dismemberment. More on his work can be found at lowellcauffiel.com.