Peoria police traced a shipping label used in a suspicious delivery to Councilwoman Jennifer Crawford’s home to a FedEx account belonging to Dennis Carlat, husband of former Mayor Cathy Carlat, according to a police report obtained by the Arizona Daily Independent.
Crawford described the delivery and other incidents she said affected her family’s safety in a public statement issued Thursday, September 10.
The police investigation established the account connection but did not identify the deliveryman or establish who personally generated the label. Investigators closed the case without contacting Carlat.
“What began as a political attack during a campaign has since evolved into something far more disturbing,” Crawford wrote.
“In 2023, my home became the target of an alarming incident involving a man who came to my residence disguised as a FedEx delivery driver. He arrived and videoed my home and my vehicles and proceeded to deliver a package with a bogus shipping label. This man requested my signature, and I personally signed for the package.”
In a September 12 interview, Crawford described the delivery and subsequent incidents she said prompted her to speak publicly about her family’s safety. Her statement comes amid a separate dispute over whether she continues to reside in the Acacia District following the reported sale of her home in July.
The redacted police report, case No. 2023-00074247, documents the November 5, 2023, arrival of a man carrying a FedEx box at Crawford’s residence. Her husband answered the door and offered to sign, but the man asked whether Jennifer Crawford was home and could sign herself.
“He specifically wanted me to sign for the package and not my husband,” Crawford told ADI.
Crawford accepted the package. She said she and her husband subsequently reviewed their security footage and saw the man holding his phone while walking near their home and vehicles.
The investigating officer described the phone’s position as consistent with taking photographs or video.
Inside the box, police documented seven pieces of candy: five miniature Hershey bars and two individually wrapped Rolos. The officer considered whether the quantity might correspond to the seven-member City Council but recorded that any significance was unknown.
Crawford said the appearance of her council office’s telephone number on the shipping label led her to believe the delivery was connected to her public role. Another council member suggested she contact then-Police Chief Art Miller and provided his number.
The report records that Miller called the investigating officer at approximately 2:55 p.m. that day. The officer contacted Crawford approximately 12 minutes later.
Police collected and photographed the package, contents, and label, documented security footage, and contacted FedEx security.
According to the report, a FedEx security specialist said no packages were scheduled for delivery to Crawford’s residence that day. The tracking number had been generated through a FedEx account and subsequently canceled. The specialist also said the orange shirt worn by the deliveryman was not issued by FedEx and that the man lacked required visible identification.
The officer obtained a search warrant for records associated with the label. A supplement states that FedEx returned those records on November 27, 2023.
The records identified Dennis Carlat as the account holder and listed the account type as an employee account. The tracking number matched the label on the package delivered to Crawford.
“I have learned the account information that created the shipping label is associated with Dennis CARLAT,” the officer wrote.
After reviewing the surveillance footage, however, the officer concluded that Carlat did not appear to be the deliveryman, citing differences in apparent age, movement, and visible features. Attempts to obtain additional neighborhood surveillance footage were unsuccessful.
The account records, as described in the report, do not establish who personally accessed the account or arranged the delivery.
Although the officer described the circumstances as appearing to constitute harassment, the supplement concluded that police lacked repeated incidents necessary under the officer’s interpretation of the law.
“Contact with CARLAT was not made due to this being a single incident, and not wanting to reveal identification of the FedEx account was discovered,” the report states.
The officer documented that the incident could be considered alongside subsequent incidents within applicable time limits.
Crawford said she later sought an injunction against harassment after learning of the account connection. She said a judge declined to grant it because more than twelve months had elapsed since the delivery.
The report says police received the FedEx records in November 2023, while the supplement bears a January 21, 2025, header date. It does not establish when Crawford was notified.
Crawford confirmed that Miller responded promptly to her initial call. Asked whether she alleged interference with the police investigation or considered Peoria PD’s investigation inadequate, Crawford said she was not making that allegation.
“I had no conversation with him after the initial phone call on the day of the incident,” she said of Miller.
The current residency dispute concerns events that occurred considerably later.
In a September 10 report, The Arizona Republic cited property records showing Crawford sold the Acacia District home listed on her election paperwork on July 31. The newspaper reported that residents had submitted complaints questioning her continued eligibility to represent the district.
Peoria’s charter requires council candidates to reside in the district they seek to represent and continue residing there throughout their terms. The Republic acknowledged that it was unclear whether Crawford was renting within Acacia.
The reported property sale does not, by itself, establish that Crawford stopped residing in the district. The 2023 police report does not resolve where she resided after the reported 2026 sale.
Responding to questions of her residency raised in the Republic’s reporting, Crawford wrote in a follow-up response to ADI, “Since the sale on 7/31/26 of the property in question, I continue to maintain residency in the Acacia district. I am protecting the address from public disclosure because of the harassment and safety concerns I have experienced in the past, including unwelcome individuals coming to my home.”
In her written statement, Crawford said questions about her residence began during her 2022 campaign for the Acacia District council seat. She rejected claims that she moved into the district to run for office, saying she moved there in 2020 and decided to become a candidate in 2022.
Crawford said she would not disclose additional information about her residences, security measures, travel patterns, work locations, or daily routines.
“The harassment has also extended to my family,” she wrote. “A reporter has made attempts to contact my family by phone and subsequently showed up at one of our family residences, creating an unwelcome and distressing situation for my family.”
The Republic reported that Crawford had not responded to requests for comment over six days and that her husband also had not returned calls. Its article was published at 5:01 a.m. on September 10. Crawford told ADI she sent her public statement and police report to the Republic that afternoon.
Crawford also described a second concerning package received through the U.S. Postal Service in 2024. She said investigators documented it separately and were unable to connect it to the 2023 delivery.
Her public statement mentioned obscene messages and vandalism as well.
Crawford said an incident after the September 1, 2026, council meeting prompted her decision to speak publicly.
She described a vehicle following her from the City Hall parking lot through several turns before it stopped following her. She said a city employee subsequently told her he had seen the vehicle leave, return, wait, and depart after she did.
Crawford said she understood police were investigating but did not have a case number.
“I had had enough at that point,” she said.
Crawford said she wants assistance investigating the September 1 incident and any future incidents, along with protection before and after council meetings.
“I welcome questions about my voting record, my policies, my decisions, and my performance as a Councilmember,” she wrote in her statement. “I am asking, plainly and unequivocally, that the harassment stop.”
“I have a right to serve in public office without having my home, family, and personal safety targeted,” Crawford wrote, concluding, “Political disagreements should be settled at the ballot box and through public debate—not by harassing someone’s family and invading their privacy.”
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