‘Lighting it up’: Wilmington man convicted of stealing nearly $1 million and spending it on gambling and gold jewelry

A Wilmington man is facing more than five years in prison after being convicted of stealing nearly $1 million.

According to prosecutors, 43-year-old Crandall Speights swiped $345,000 in checks from area mailboxes and was awarded $560,000 in federal loans obtained through fraudulent means, totaling more than $900,000.

Speights was indicted in Sept. 2023, but fled in May of last year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware said in a news release. He was arrested in New Jersey in January.

The sentencing memo said Speights spent the ill-gotten proceeds “just lighting it up” at “the casino” and spending it on “materialistic stuff” like more than $100,000 spent on furs and another half a million on jewelry.

Law enforcement seized 40 pieces of jewelry from Speights’ home during his arrest, with a total appraised value of approximately $477,705. They included an 18-karat gold, diamond, and sapphire ring valued at $75,000 and a 1-karat gold bracelet valued at $102,900. Officers also found 11 fur coats, shawls and hats from Speights’ apartment valued at around $56,250. There were also additional checks, bank cards and stolen identification cards.

“This is an important victory for the American public,”  said Yury Kruty, IRS Special Agent in Charge. “Not only is a criminal going to jail for his crimes, but the government has seized a significant portion of the illegal proceeds through asset forfeiture.”

Court documents say Speights spent nights between 2019 and 2021 driving through neighborhoods, taking 24 checks from mailboxes, altering them and depositing them in various bank accounts. The amounts of the checks ranged from $300 to $101,453.

The sentencing memo said that about eight residents or small businesses were unable to recover the stolen money, including the rightful owner of the over $100,000 check.

Speights was also convicted of submitting fraudulent applications for pandemic loans to the Small Business Administration, defrauding the federal government of about $560,000.

According to prosecutors, the defendant coerced a friend, Quinton Bonds, into the scheme to get COVID-19 loans. Speights encouraged him to answer a bank’s questions about some of the fraudulent money deposited into his account, “even offering to play his accountant and join the call if necessary.”

Speights has fourteen previous convictions, including for burglarizing vehicles, credit card fraud, identity theft and forgery.

He requested less prison time, arguing in a letter to the judge that childhood abuse and other trauma contributed to his behavior. Speights also apologized for his actions. He has appealed his sentence.

This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.