CHICAGO (CBS) – President Biden on Thursday commuted the sentence of former Dixon, Illinois, Comptroller Rita Crundwell, who was convicted in 1990 of embezzling more than $53 million from the city.
The president has commuted the sentences of 1,499 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic, the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. He also granted 39 pardons.
In a statement, President Biden said, “These commutation recipients, who have been placed under home confinement during the COVID pandemic, have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have demonstrated that they deserve a second chance.”
On February 14, 2013, Crundwell was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in prison for embezzling more than $53 million from the city of Dixon beginning in 1990. She pleaded guilty to the charges in the case in November 2012.
Crundwell should have served 85% of her sentence, which would have kept her in prison until October 20, 2029. she was eventually released more than eight years earlier on August 4, 2021.
Crundwell has been under house arrest since her release.
According to her plea agreement, Crundwell opened a bank account for the city of Dixon in December 1990, which she managed alone. Over the next 22 years, she used her position as city comptroller to transfer money from a city money market account to other city bank accounts, and then to the account she controlled.
Crundwell, now 71, admitted to using that money for personal business expenses, including herself horse breeding businesspersonal credit cards and various real estate properties, including homes in Dixon And Florida.
She also created fake invoices from the state of Illinois to show auditors that the money she used was spent on legitimate city expenses. She also told city officials that budget shortfalls resulted from the state being late in paying tax revenues to the city.
Then-Dixon Mayor Jim Burke, who has since died, reported Crundwell to federal authorities in the fall of 2011 after another city employee took over Crundwell’s duties while she was on vacation and found records of the bank account that Crundwell had used. to finance her lavish lifestyle.
“I don’t know how she could sleep all these years knowing what she was doing to my hometown,” former Dixon resident Mary Hahn told CBS News Chicago’s Marissa Bailey and other reporters in 2013 when Crundwell was sentenced.
Nearly 12 years later, frustration, shock, disappointment and outrage were among the reactions Thursday to the decision to commute Crundwell’s sentence. Despite the fact that Crundwell has been out of prison for several years, many involved in the case say leniency sends the wrong message.
“Today I expect her to dance through the streets of Dixon with her commutation because she also just defrauded the President of the United States,” said former U.S. Marshal Jason Wojdylo. “This official act undid decades of work.”
Wojdylo spent four years tracking down Crundwell’s belongings and took CBS News Chicago on a search tour of her vacation home in Florida before her belongings – including the custom-made furniture in the Florida property and Crundwell’s 405 horses – were sold at auction, raising $10.5 million.
“The sheer overwhelming nature of her crime made it virtually impossible for her to account for anything she purchased with the stolen money,” Wojdylo said.
Li Arellano says he was mayor of Dixon and served with the intention of solving problems caused by Crundwell’s fraud.
“The message seems to be that crime pays,” Arellano said. ‘These are probably labeled as non-violent criminals. If you rob a city of $54 million and you think there will be less violence that won’t harm public safety, you’re wrong. There is definitely more crime if you steal 10. Definitely 20% of a city’s budget.”
Arellano said it will take decades to fully recover from Crundwell’s crimes, as Dixon postponed infrastructure projects when Crundwell, the comptroller, said the city didn’t have the money. These solutions have only become more expensive over the years.
“It should have been about a $200,000 to $300,000 repair that would have cost over a million and a half,” Arellano said. “Such things have happened several times, and they continue to happen.”
Watchdogs also said the sentence commute sent the wrong message.
“This is a notorious fraud in the state of Illinois – a state with a history of corruption,” said David Greising, president of the Better Government Association. “What’s the risk and reward? This reduces the risk when corrupt people think they can put their hand in the cash register.”
But some closest to the case wonder whether Crundwell ever got the message.
“It’s a shock. It’s an outrage. As recently as today, I’ve spoken to people who were even close to Rita Cromwell,” Wojdylo said. “She has no remorse. She never was. Her only regret is that she got caught.”
Dixon City Manager Danny Langlossa also said in a statement that the City of Dixon was not at all satisfied with the decision to commute Crundwell’s sentence:
“The City of Dixon is shocked and outraged to announce that President Biden has granted Rita Crundwell clemency for the largest municipal embezzlement in our nation’s history. This is a complete travesty of justice and a slap in the face to our entire community.
“While today’s news is unimaginable, the city of Dixon is in an incredible place today. We will continue to focus on the future and work to capitalize on the momentum we have created.”
The Federal Bureau of Prisons listed Crundwell’s release date from home confinement as Oct. 20, 2028. But that was before the clemency announcement.
