NJ middle school teacher busted in prostitution scam at Atlantic City casino claimed she was there strictly to party: cops

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 authoritiesThe 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...