In the span of a year, District of Columbia public school employee Emerson Crawley submitted nearly $7,400 in expense reports for lunches and dinners at an Italian restaurant two blocks from the White House. Court records show he racked up thousands more for food elsewhere and entertainment — including a $225 tab at the Camelot Show Bar, a strip club.
The D.C. government finally got wind of Crawley’s questionable expenses and pitched a criminal case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Federal prosecutors declined to bring charges. But the D.C. Office of the Attorney General didn’t want to let the case go. In December 2007, local prosecutors filed 17 misdemeanor false claims charges in D.C. Superior Court.
