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 on home confinement 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 an extended vacation, and found records of the bank account Crundwell had been using to fund her lavish lifestyle.
"I don't know how she was able to sleep all those 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 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.
Li Arellano says he ran and served as Dixon mayor with intention of cleaning up issues caused by Crundwell's fraud.
"The message seems to be crime pays," Arellano said. "Supposedly, these are labeled as nonviolent criminals. If you rob a town of $54 million, and then you think there's less violence that it doesn't impact public safety, you're wrong. There absolutely is more crime when you steal 10 to 20% of a city's budget, absolutely."
Arellano said it will take decades to fully recover from Crundwell's crimes—considering Dixon put off infrastructure projects when Crundwell, the comptroller, said the city didn't have the money. Those fixes have only become more expensive over the years.
"It should have been about a $200,000 to $300,000 fix cost over a million and a half," said Arellano. "Things like that happened multiple times, and they're still happening."
Watchdogs also said the sentence commutation have 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 are thinking they might stick their hand in the till."
But some closest to the case wonder if Crundwell ever got the message to begin with.
"It's shock. It's outrage. I have spoken as recent as today with people even close to Rita Cromwell," said Wojdylo. "She is not remorseful. She never has been. Her only regret has only ever been that she was caught."
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."
The Federal Bureau of Prisons listed Crundwell's release date from home confinement as Oct. 20, 2028. But that was before the clemency announcement.
