ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A former Allentown police officer turned himself in to authorities Friday to face allegations he stole thousands of dollars while on the job, according to prosecutors.
Jason Michael Krasley, 47, of Upper Milford Township, is charged with felony counts of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property over $2,000. Both are third-degree felonies.
He also faces a misdemeanor charge of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
Other officers present
Authorities allege Krasley stole $5,500 during a May 2019 search at a Hamilton Street barbershop while Vice and Intelligence Unit officers were searching for cash, cocaine and drug paraphernalia and other evidence related to illegal drug trafficking.
Based in part on evidence seized from the barber shop, the owner of the shop pleaded guilty to drug dealing and did not contest prosecutors' petition seeking forfeiture of $18,664 in cash.
An initial inventory receipt showed Vice and Intelligence Unit officers seized $16,000 in cash from the barbershop, but a later inventory indicated $10,500 was found in a basement ceiling during the search, according to an affidavit.
"An investigation into the missing money has determined that Krasley stole the money."Lehigh County District Attorney's office release
The affidavit says several Allentown officers were involved in the search, including Krasley.
Allentown police noticed the money was missing the same day it was taken, and "an investigation into the missing money has determined that Krasley stole the money," the affidavit says.
But charges were not filed for more than five years.
Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan said Friday he could not speak about the status of the investigation when he took office this year.
The charges were approved by a Lehigh County grand jury, Holihan said.
Krasley was arraigned Friday before Magisterial District Judge Rashid Santiago and released on $100,000 unsecured bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 5.
'Fake' search warrant
A whistleblower lawsuit filed in July by two city police officers details the alleged theft in May 2019.
Vice detectives executed a “double hit” search at a barbershop in the 1100 block of Hamilton Street and a property in the 1300 block of Chew Street, Officer David Howells said in the suit.
A Vice detective seized thousands of dollars from the barbershop and put it in the unit’s evidence van while searching the Chew Street property, the suit states.
Krasley was seen inside the van while other officers were performing the search, and an evidence bag containing $5,500 “was empty and the money was missing” when they returned to the vehicle, Howells alleges.
Police Chief Charles Roca did not address why charges were filed more than five years after money was determined to be missing from the May 2019 search.
Police supervisors did not search officers, their cars or desks; instead, a Vice sergeant ordered a detective to “write up a new, ‘fake’ search warrant” that didn’t account for the missing $5,500, the lawsuit stated.
Officer Randy Fey, the other plaintiff in the suit against APD, said he reported the “fraudulent modification of the inventory sheet” made by another detective in the Vice unit.
But he said he later was told his report was an “employment issue” to be settled by the human resources department.
Allentown Police Chief Charles Roca in a news release Friday said police cooperated with an “internal and criminal investigation into the matter at the time … and again in 2024 [when] it was revisited” by Holihan’s office.
Like the district attorney, Roca did not address why charges were filed more than five years after money was determined to be missing from the May 2019 search.
Second theft alleged
That lawsuit, which a Lehigh County judge dismissed last month, alleged Krasley was involved in another Vice search in which money went missing.
Allentown Police Department has a “de facto policy or custom … to not investigate or discipline the illegal activity, ethical violations and misconduct of its police officers, including members of the Vice and Intelligence Unit.”Whistleblower lawsuit against APD
The unit executed a search warrant in September 2018 at an Allentown home and seized $20,000, according to department paperwork; but Howells later learned $40,000 was taken by police during that search, the suit states.
Krasley was one of two Vice officers who filed the inventory paperwork from that search, according to the suit.
Though $20,000 was “missing and undocumented” after that search, “no investigation was ordered or conducted by … Allentown’s police managerial or supervisory personnel,” which include now-Chief Roca.
Howells said that lack of action made it apparent the Allentown Police Department has a “de facto policy or custom … to not investigate or discipline the illegal activity, ethical violations and misconduct of its police officers, including members of the Vice and Intelligence Unit.”
Steven Hoffman, who is representing Fey and Howells, is seeking to have the whistleblower lawsuit reinstated.
