Recreational rugby player Sean McDowell, whose SafeSport case investigator Jason Krasley was fired after being arrested for stealing drug money in his previous job as a police officer, poses for a portrait on Dec. 18, 2024, in Seattle.Lindsey Wasson/The Associated Press
The U.S. Center for SafeSport abruptly fired one of its investigators last month after learning he’d been arrested for stealing money confiscated after a drug bust he was part of during his previous job as a police officer.
Jason Krasley left his job with the Allentown Police Department in Pennsylvania in 2021 and was hired by the Denver-based SafeSport centre to look into sensitive cases involving sex abuse and harassment.
Among Krasley’s cases was one with Sean McDowell, who had filed a report to the centre accusing a member of his Seattle-based recreational rugby club of stalking and harassment. McDowell said it took the centre, which has struggled with timely handling of complaints, about eight weeks to assign an investigator to the case.
That investigator turned out to be Krasley, who stopped responding to e-mails from McDowell a few weeks after they first spoke. Around then, McDowell got an e-mail from the centre’s assistant director of investigations, Daniel Kast, who said he was “writing to advise you that Jason Krasley is no longer employed” by the centre, and that a new investigator would be assigned.
McDowell did some digging and saw news reports that Krasley had been arrested and charged with theft and receiving stolen property for allegedly stealing US$5,500 that had been confiscated from a drug bust in Allentown in 2019. The criminal case in Pennsylvania still has not been resolved.
Public records show Krasley worked as a detective/task force officer for the Allentown police from 2002-21. His 2024 arrest came more than five years after the alleged theft.
Krasley did not respond to e-mails and text messages from AP seeking comment.