Former Dixon, Ill. comptroller Rita Crundwell, who embezzled $53 million, released from custody

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Former Dixon comptroller Rita Crundwell, who embezzled more than $53 million from the tiny town in western Illinois, was released from custody on Friday, more than a week after President Biden commuted her sentence of nearly 20 years in prison.

Crundwell, 71, pleaded guilty to charges in the case in November 2012, admitting she stole $53.7 million from the city's covers over 22 years to finance a lavish lifestyle, including a horse breeding business, credit card bills, and several real estate properties – including homes in Dixon and Florida.

In 2013, she was sentenced to 19 years and 7 months in prison for her crimes, which would have kept her in prison until at least October 2029, but she was released eight years early in 2021 after petitioning for early release due to her health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Crundwell has been living in a halfway house ever since. Last week, President Biden commuted the sentences of 1,499 people who already had been released from prison and placed on home confinement during the pandemic, including Crundwell. 

U.S. Bureau of Prisons records confirmed Crundwell was no longer in custody as of Friday.  

In a statement on last week's clemency actions, President Biden said, "These commutation recipients, who were placed on home confinement during the COVID pandemic, have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance."

According to her plea deal, in December 1990, Crundwell opened a bank account for the city of Dixon, which she alone controlled. Over the next 22 years, she used her position as city comptroller to transfer funds from a city money market account into other city bank accounts, and then into the account she controlled.

She also created fake invoices from the state of Illinois to show auditors the funds she was using were being spent on legitimate city expenses. She also told city officials that budget shortfalls were the result of the state being late in payment of tax revenues to the city.

Nearly a dozen years later, frustration, shock, disappointment, and outrage were some of the responses Thursday to the decision to commute Crundwell's sentence. The fact notwithstanding that Crundwell has been out of prison for several years, many involved with the case said clemency sends the wrong message.

"Now, today I anticipate she's dancing in the streets of Dixon with her commutation, because she just also conned 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 assets, and took CBS News Chicago on a tour of her Florida vacation home before her items—including the custom-made furniture at the Florida property and Crundwell's 405 horses—were sold at auction, bringing in $10.5 million.

"Just the overwhelming nature of her crime made it near impossible for her to account for everything that she had had bought with the stolen funds," Wojdylo said.

Dixon City Manager Danny Langlossa also said in a statement that the City of Dixon was not pleased at all with the decision to commute Crundwell's sentence:

"The City of Dixon is shocked and outraged with the announcement that President Biden has given Rita Crundwell clemency for the largest municipal embezzlement in the history of our country. This is a complete travesty of justice and a slap in the face for our entire community. 

"While today's news in 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."