SCRANTON — A man already accused of stealing $10,000 from an American Legion post in Minooka faces additional charges involving the theft of thousands more.
Christopher Crawford, 31, 425 15th Ave., is expected to be arraigned today on 85 new counts after Lackawanna County detectives say he used three debit cards belonging to American Legion Post 568 to rack up more than $6,500 in unauthorized cash withdrawals and purchases.
Crawford, who acted as Post 568’s executive officer in charge of memberships and recruitment, was originally arrested Aug. 24 and charged with theft and more than 130 related counts.
Investgators accused him of using debits cards associated with Post 568 accounts at Peoples Security Bank to steal $10,173 by making cash withdrawals and purchases between June 10 and Aug. 20.
Crawford has been held in Lackawanna County Prison on $75,000 bail as he awaits his preliminary hearing, which was scheduled for Tuesday but postponed until Oct. 2.
In the latest complaint and arrest affidavit filed Wednesday, county Detective Lisa Bauer said Legion officers, while preparing for the preliminary hearing, discovered additional unauthorized transactions on three Community Bank debit cards that were assigned to Crawford.
A review of the Community Bank account statements found 83 unapproved cash withdrawals and payments totaling $6,528.15 between March 18 and June 7, investigators said.
Among the cash transactions were four ATM withdrawals for more than $1,200 over a three-day period in June at casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, according to a listing in the affidavit. There was a $319 payment to a hotel in Venice, Florida, two payments to airlines and 29 payments for Uber service.
Crawford, who transferred from a post in Pittsburgh in 2018, opened new Community Bank accounts after he and other new officers took their positions at the post on Birney Avenue on March 1, the affidavit said.
After officers and members confronted him when checks drawn on the Community Bank accounts bounced, Crawford blamed the bank and closed the accounts, investigators said. He opened the new accounts at Peoples Security on June 14.
The new charges against him include one count each of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property and 83 counts of access device fraud.
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9132