As she mourned the unexpected demise of her son, a 26-year-previous Military sergeant felled by a coronary heart ailment, Sharon Hartz uncovered some stunning information:
She would get a death gain and daily life insurance policies totaling fifty percent a million pounds.
But she explained the Army’s casualty assistance officer, who had served her with the funeral arrangements, told her she to start with had to meet up with with an Army fiscal counselor.
“[He] insisted that we be educated on the finances so they were being correctly handled,” she claimed.
Hartz and the officer drove to Fort Dix, in which she very first sat down with Caz Craffy, an Military reservist whose 9-to-5 civilian task was giving advice about revenue to Army family members.
Craffy was “very charismatic,” Hartz stated. “Very, extremely friendly, incredibly welcoming.”
That turned out to be a façade. Craffy was a con person, who has now pleaded guilty to bilking Hartz and dozens of other Gold Star family members — the survivors of assistance associates who died on active responsibility — out of thousands and thousands of bucks.
“I’ve dropped a minimal over $200,000,” she explained. “Now I’m up in the air. I can’t afford to retire. I feel taken gain of. I’m embarrassed. I feel like I allow my son down, mainly because, you know, this was his way of taking treatment of me and my little ones. So it’s devastating.”
Prosecutors say Craffy was only intended to be supplying households generic economic assistance. In its place, he also had a second civilian career as an expenditure supervisor and managed their investments in violation of Military regulations. Court docket records say he convinced Hartz and other Gold Star family to hand him their funds — then racked up substantial commissions even as he produced unwise investments that plummeted in price.
Natasha Cruz-Bevard signed $500,000 about to Craffy right after she misplaced her husband, employees sergeant and Iraq fight veteran Rodney Bevard, to suicide.
“When they spelled out all that to me and I opened up my statements, I saw that in a quick quantity of time I dropped a good deal of funds, near to $90,000 in just commissions by yourself,” she stated. “I’ve lost like $260,000 total.”
Cruz-Bevard mentioned she advised Craffy she required to invest very conservatively, but she uncovered later on he had detailed her as looking for an “aggressive” possibility profile.
Cruz-Bevard and Hartz reported Craffy appeared to have focused family members who have been not complex about investments. And he persuaded them that he was not just their monetary adviser, he was their pal.
“If I claimed my daughter was wanting for a motor vehicle, he would say, ‘Oh, I know any individual in the auto business. You know, don’t fail to remember, you are section of the navy. We have a large circle of mates, blah, blah, blah,’” Hartz claimed. “And he would say, ‘Don’t make any moves with out checking with me to start with.’… He was grooming me, in essence.”
Prosecutors say he would also urge them not to glance at their statements and guarantee them that any high commissions or losses would be designed up by major gains later.
“I really don’t know how the guy sleeps at night,” Hartz stated. “He has a wife and little ones. How could he just be so blatantly greedy with no any guilt?”
Hartz explained Craffy invited her to his “lavish” wedding, although she did not show up at.
Community information exhibit Craffy purchased a $2.1 million residence in 2022 on Place Club Lane in Colts Neck, New Jersey. It’s now in foreclosure, and he is dealing with 10 yrs in prison.
“Those who target and steal from the households of fallen American services members will be held accountable for their crimes,” Legal professional Basic Merrick Garland explained in a assertion when the plea was announced.
But quite a few victims say accountability in this situation ought to prolong past one particular person and that the Army nevertheless has thoughts to response.
“I do think that there’s blood on the palms of the Army in this article,” mentioned Natalie Khawam, who is representing Hartz, Cruz-Bevard and other victims in an endeavor to get the Army to make clear how Craffy was ready to crack the guidelines for so lengthy with out detection. They are contemplating a lawsuit.
Khawam claimed Army casualty assistance officers continuously steered families to Craffy.
“The Military launched this man to all these vulnerable people,” she reported. “They were at their lowest, they lost their cherished one, they shed their child. And below, the only person that they believed was likely to just take care of them, which was the Military … sends in a human being that just fundamentally took benefit of them.”
In a statement to NBC News, the Military stated it “conducted a comprehensive felony investigation and identified this to be an isolated scenario.” The Army explained it continues to be dedicated to caring for people of fallen soldiers.
Hartz claimed she assumed Craffy could be trusted, given that he was an Army employee.
“The army took care of us soon after my son’s dying — it was like they were being with us each action of the way,” she said. “And everything was incredibly formal or protocol was satisfied. I just assumed this was portion of the gain.”
Cruz-Bevard stated no 1 from the Army has contacted her, other than the legal investigator who introduced the situation.
“He worked for the Military. They should be held accountable as well. I know these are his acts, but you need to have checked on these family members. You need to have confirmed what type of conversation, what sort of discussions were going on, specifically with this total of dollars.”
She extra, “We are Gold Star households, and we have to have to make sure that this doesn’t transpire once again to upcoming Gold Star households. So I truly truly feel that the Army should definitely phase up and be held accountable for this.”
