Personal assistant accused of embezzling $400,000 from Tri-Cities contractor
A prominent Kennewick businessman’s longtime personal assistant is charged with siphoning off more than $400,000 from his business accounts.
Janice Crawford, 71, is accused of stealing the money from Bruce Ratchford’s business accounts from 2014 to 2019 to pay for a home security service, Amazon purchases and cable and TV packages.
Ratchford is the founder and CEO of the Apollo Mechanical, a large contracting business in operation since 1981 and based in the Tri-Cities, with offices in seven other cities in Western states and Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Just before the money was discovered missing, Crawford emptied her retirement accounts and disappeared, telling friends she was going “off the grid,” said court documents.
Court records don’t say what happened after she disappeared in 2019, but in November 2023 Benton County prosecutors filed the felony first-degree theft charge.
She’s been bed-ridden for more than a year now and requires full-time medical care, according to court records.
“If she were forcibly removed from her bed her medical condition would worsen and there is a high likelihood she would require emergency treatment for life-threatening conditions,” her attorney Christine Bennett said in court documents.
Because of her unspecified illness, federal prosecutors declined to pursue an indictment, her attorney said a motion in to allow her to appear before a judge by video link instead of in person.
Felony theft charge
In March 2019, Crawford had been Ratchford’s longtime assistant when he talked with her about transferring some money between bank accounts.
When he asked her how much was in one account, she reportedly told him there was $3.6 million. And on April 4, 2019, he told Crawford to make the transfer.
Five days later on April 9, she didn’t show up for work, turned in a resignation letter and left a note for her husband, said court documents.
She said she was leaving him and had done some bad things. She left him with divorce paperwork, said the charging documents.
At that point, he also realized that she had drained her retirement accounts.
At work, Ratchford checked his accounts and found nearly $2.5 million missing. Later, forensic accountants found some of the money was spent on legitimate business expenses, but investigators claim Crawford spent about $407,000 on unauthorized purchases.
She allegedly made several purchases from Amazon, paid for a home security service, made personal cellphone payments, paid for cable and TV and other services. The money also paid for her health insurance.
After she’s resigned, she sent messages and emails to various people that allegedly said she felt guilty and did “things that others would find alarming,” according to documents.
“She specifically informed one associate that she was solely responsible for everything,” according to court documents. “She admitted to feeling guilty and wishing to have informed Mr. Ratchford earlier.”