Dec. 13—DIXON — Rita Crundwell, the former Dixon city comptroller convicted of embezzling $53.7 million from the city — seen as the largest municipal theft in U.S. history — is among about 1,500 people which came just weeks before President Joe Biden was granted clemency. leave office.
Four years shy of completing a 19-year, 7-month prison sentence for a single fraud charge, Crundwell — federal inmate No. 44540-424 — was listed Thursday among about 1,500 people whose sentences are being commuted or pardoned in what is the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history,
Biden’s sweeping move will commute 1,499 sentences of prisoners released and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic, and also pardon 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes.
“America was built on the promise of opportunity and second chances,” Biden said in a statement. “As President, I have the great privilege of granting mercy to those who have shown repentance and rehabilitation, giving Americans the opportunity to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to eliminate disparities in to eliminate sentencing for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses.”
A forgiveness relieves a person from guilt and punishment. Commuting a sentence, as in Crundwell’s case, reduces or eliminates the penalty but does not exonerate the misconduct. The Board of Prisons website indicates she was originally scheduled to be released from her sentence on October 20, 2028, three months before she turns 76.
The Crundwell case
The Crundwell saga began more than a dozen years ago when the mayor, the late Jim Burke, went to the FBI in October 2011 with concerns about fake city bank accounts and missing money.
Expand Autoplay
Image 1 of 31
Flanked by her attorneys, Rita Crundwell arrives at federal court in Rockford on Monday, May 7, 2022, where she pleaded not guilty to wire fraud. (Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com)
Crundwell was taken from City Hall in handcuffs on April 17, 2012, accused of stealing millions of city funds during her tenure. She used the money to pay for a lavish lifestyle, picking up champion quarter horses, a $2 million tour bus, jewelry, furs, multiple homes and other paraphernalia, while Dixon struggled to pay for infrastructure and other projects.
After pleading guilty, she was sentenced to nearly the maximum of twenty years by U.S. District Judge Philip G. Reinhard in federal court in Rockford on February 14, 2013.
Crundwell was required to serve at least 85% of her sentence, but she was released from federal prison in Pekin in August 2021, about a year after she sought a compassionate release, citing illness and fear of contracting COVID-19.
Crundwell cited a variety of health concerns in her petition for parole, granted under the terms of the CARES Act, which went into effect on March 26, 2020. The law expanded the Bureau of Prison’s home confinement program as a means to prevent COVID-19. 19 against an angry federal lockup.
In total, Crundwell served 8 1/2 years at the Pekin Correctional Center. Crundwell was allowed to return to her family in Dixon, but her current whereabouts are unknown.
Dixon was almost completely cured financially by a settlement with the company that gave his books a clean bill of health year after year, and by the proceeds from the sale of Crundwell’s assets.
The aftershock of Crundwell’s crimes led to an overhaul of city government, beginning with the introduction of a new system of financial checks and balances by then-financial director Paula Meyer. The city also held a referendum in which community members decided to convert to a council manager rather than commissioner form of government. Voters then elected a new council and mayor, and many city policies, from auditing and financial duties to department heads and transparency practices, were restructured.
