President Biden commutes sentence for former Dixon, Ill. Comptroller Rita Crundwell, who embezzled over $53M
CHICAGO (CBS) -- President Biden on Thursday commuted the sentence of former Dixon, Illinois comptroller Rita Crundwell, who was convicted of embezzling more than $53 million from the city going back to 1990.
The president 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 issued 39 pardons.
In a statement, 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."
On Feb. 14, 2013, Crundwell was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in federal prison for embezzling more than $53 million from the City of Dixon going back to 1990. She pleaded guilty to charges in the case in November 2012.
Crundwell had been due to serve 85% of her sentence, which would have kept her in prison until Oct. 20, 2029. But she ended up being released more than eight years early on Aug. 4, 2021.
Crundwell has been in a halfway house since her release.
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.
Crundwell, now 71, admitted using those funds for personal business expenses, including her horse breeding business, personal credit cards, and several real estate properties -- including homes in Dixon and Florida.
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.
Then-Dixon Mayor Jim Burke, who has since passed away, reported Crundwell to federal authorities in the fall of 2011 after another city employee took over Crundwell's duties while she was on extended vacation - and found records of the bank account Crundwell had been using to fund her lavish lifestyle.
Dixon City Manager Danny Langloss 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."