Dixon, Illinois Comptroller Allegedly Embezzled $30 Million To Fund Horse Breeding Business [UPDATE]

Municipal budgets around the country have been squeezed tight in recent years, and a city official in one town allegedly exacerbated those financial woes to fund her horse breeding habit.

Rita Crundwell, the comptroller and treasurer of the small Illinois town of Dixon, was arrested Tuesday on charges of embezzling $33.2 million from city coffers, the Chicago Tribune reports.

This story has been updated to reflect developments in Crundwell's legal and employment status.

Crundwell, who is also a championship horse breeder, reportedly bought more than $300,000 worth of jewelry with the money, but sank most of it into running her horse breeding business, Meri-J Ranch, including a $2.1 million motor home, according to International Business Times. In fact, her successful horse business, which boasts 52 champion horses on its website, may have served as a cover for her alleged criminal activity, according to MSNBC.

The city of Dixon has faced budget cuts in recent years, forcing officials to close the town's public pool, with Crundwell remaining entrusted with the town's $8 million budget through it all. That is, until a secret account was discovered while she was taking time off, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Indeed, the $30 million hit is bound to be a big one for such a struggling small town. It's not alone, as cities across the country struggle with budget shortfalls. North Las Vegas is stretched so thin city officials are debating charging residents to use a new city park. Last year Jefferson County, Alabama filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in history. Central Falls, Rhode Island filed for Chapter 9 a few months before that.

But Crundwell is hardly the first government employee to be accused of embezzling government funds. In March, a former employee of Detroit's Department of Human Services was charged with embezzling $18,000 in community block grant funds. Small peas compared to former Washington D.C. district tax manager Harriette Walters. In 2009, she was found guilty and sentenced to 17 years in prison for a $48 million embezzlement scheme, The New York Times reports.

If convicted, Crundwell will face 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, International Business Times reports.

UPDATE: Ms. Crundwell has been released from federal custody with asset and travel restrictions, according to the Wall Street Journal. Dixon Mayor James Burke told residents that the city has put Crundwell on unpaid leave and is trying to recoup as much money as possible through asset seizures.

Check out some of the most notorious Illinois corruption cases below:

Comments

[juioli024566]

04:36 AM on 04/26/2012

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[ihavequestions]

08:14 PM on 04/24/2012

But, by golly, she has those wonderful American Quarter Horse Association World Championships! No one will ever be able to take those away from her! Yessir, that's what really matters!

(jk)

[Sam Bazindine]

08:38 AM on 05/03/2012

The horses received those titles and they should not be taken away. As for any titles, accolades, awards, or recognition awarded to her, those should be immediately revoked, and the hardware disposed of as the courts deem necessary. People now know that she's a fraud and what she did is not looked upon favorably, so it's unlikely she'll ever garner much support for herself and her plight.

[Alwayslearning82]

08:07 PM on 04/22/2012

Rita is also NOT an accountant, and has no formal training or education in finance. She only had a certificate in office administration from a community college from 40 years ago at a local community college. This is how a good old boy republican local Goverment operates.

[Alwayslearning82]

08:05 PM on 04/22/2012

I live in Dixon. Rita was the treasurer and comptroller all rolled into one 80k a year part time job. There was no oversight, and the council and the Mayor have no internal auditing mechanism or separation of powers concerning payables and accounting practices. I'm my opinion the whole of the elected local government need to resign.

[modamerican]

10:13 AM on 04/20/2012

How is it possible for City Comptroller to steal $33 million over six years from a city with a population of 16,000 and a budget of $8 or $9 million? That's about $5 million a year stolen from a budget of $9 million, over 1/2 of the budget? For six consecutive years and no one noticed? There are outside audit requirements for cities - how wasn't this caught by the outside audit company?

How has the City paid it's bills for the last six years? I can't believe it was diversion from a pension fund, because Illinois has an independent municipal retirement program that seems to be pretty well managed, at least for Illinois. I would be amazed if she was able to do this entirely on her own.

[Ed Hammer]

09:45 AM on 04/20/2012

Illinois corruption is not exclusive to Cook County Democrats

[tczep]

03:34 PM on 04/20/2012

No of course not. We've got a former Republican Gov sitting in a Federal prison in Indiana. Corruption is rampant amongst both parties.

[1oldhippie]

07:32 AM on 04/20/2012

what about Paul Powell?

[Jakpot]

06:38 AM on 04/20/2012

Good potential Administrator of GSA for the mismanaged Obama administration

[jimbolina1]

06:28 AM on 04/20/2012

250.000 dollar fine? make her pay back every cent! that was not the cities money, it was the taxpayers money!

[mlondeaux]

06:23 AM on 04/20/2012

My dad's wife, (my parents are divorced), is the comptroller of the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. I can't ever imagine her doing something so disgusting. Rita Crundwell stole money that could've gone towards bettering her community but, instead, she used it to better herself. I think she should be fined a lot more than $250,000. That's only about 1% of the $30 million she stole. Hopefully, they can recoup the rest by seizing her horse breeding business. Losing her champion horses will probably hurt her more than any amount of fine or prison time.

[mlondeaux]

06:03 AM on 04/20/2012

Why was this woman put on unpaid leave? In my opinion, she should be fired and they should promote the honest employee, who was filling in for her and discovered the "secret account", to the position of comptroller. At least they know they'll have someone trustworthy doing the job.

[Dongflopper]

05:57 AM on 04/20/2012

Obama, best get out and apologize for this. She is a citizen of the U.S., so take responsibility before FOX ties you into the mess!

[Michelledc]

05:55 AM on 04/20/2012

Successful horse breeding business huh? Must not have been all that successfull if she had to embezzle that much money to keep it going! Of course I understand she has bought other luxuries along the way. Oh, and by the way, the Illinois Gov now has a horse ranch for sale near O's home, not to mention the motor home, and a few other nice items. When is the Auction?

[Joseph Wells]

05:34 AM on 04/20/2012

Over paid,non caring,never had to struggle YUPPIES.

[bsmith8874]

05:25 AM on 04/20/2012

No different from the unions stealing billions from taxpayers.