Former Jupiter Dunes Manager Arrested, Accused of Funneling $200,000 to Personal Accounts Over Five Years
A former manager of Jupiter Dunes Golf Club was arrested Wednesday on grand theft charges after a Jupiter Police Department investigation found he allegedly funneled more than $210,000 in club funds to personal bank accounts and personal purchases over a five-year period.
Eric Kriews, 65, was hired in 2017 to manage the club and given access to a company credit card for golf course expenses. According to a probable cause affidavit, the Jupiter Dunes Property Association discovered the alleged activity in 2024 while reviewing the course's finances and found numerous charges with no apparent connection to club operations.
The payroll scheme
Investigators say Kriews collected both his contracted salary and unauthorized direct deposits through the club's ADP payroll system. Between September 2019 and December 2024, he received 100 direct deposits totaling approximately $55,791 that were not part of his agreed compensation.
Kriews also added his wife, Penny Kriews, to the payroll, though she was not employed by the property association. To avoid detection, she was entered into the ADP system under her maiden name. She received 145 direct deposits totaling approximately $57,282 during the same period, according to investigators.
The credit card charges
The company credit card showed approximately $289,000 in total charges between 2020 and 2024. After investigators removed legitimate golf course expenses, Jupiter Dunes reported approximately $91,827 in allegedly fraudulent charges — including purchases at hardware stores, restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores, as well as charges in Michigan, near a residence Kriews maintained there.
Recurring pest-control charges from Orkin were also flagged as being billed to the company for Kriews' personal home rather than the course.
The Amazon account
Police also traced an Amazon account created in 2017 under the name "Bill Kriews" using a Jupiter Dunes email address. The account carried approximately $59,865 in charges on club cards from January 2022 through December 2024, with the property association flagging roughly $27,558 as potentially fraudulent.
Investigators found 56 purchases totaling about $4,057 shipped to family members in other states, 105 totaling about $5,696 sent to Kriews' Michigan address, and 265 totaling about $13,038 delivered to his Hobe Sound home. Among the flagged items: a gold tiara, with a deleted Amazon shipping confirmation later recovered by investigators.
Kriews' response
Before the case was referred to police, the property association confronted Kriews directly. In a January 2025 email, he acknowledged adding his wife to the payroll and using the company card for personal items, saying the purchases were "not done in most part intentionally."
"I am so sorry. I am so sick that I could do this to the course I gave my heart and soul to," he wrote.
Kriews was terminated on December 31, 2024. Settlement negotiations between the association and Kriews' attorney eventually broke down, after which the case was reported to police.
The total reported loss from unauthorized payroll payments and credit card charges is approximately $210,553. Detective Matthew Palladino found probable cause to charge Kriews with grand theft of $20,000 or more but less than $100,000. Kriews had not made any statements to law enforcement as of the August 5 probable cause affidavit.
Image by: CBS 12 / Palm Beach County Jail