The government in a motion to the court stated that Crundwell and her horses won numerous awards at national Quarter Horse competitions including being named the leading owner by the American Quarter Horse Association for eight consecutive years prior to her arrest.Īccountant Joseph Petrucelli. All the while, Crundwell not only participated in budget meetings for the city with other City Council members, but she voiced a need for Dixon to make spending cuts due to a lack of sufficient funds. By 2008, Crundwell's thefts resulted in a diversion of $5.8 million for that year alone, also the height of the financial crisis. The initial thefts started out small, amounting to $181,000 in 1991. seven years later she would begin her scheme that would span 22 years. In 1983, she was appointed as the comptroller/treasurer. She started working for the finance department for the City of Dixon, IL while still in high school in 1970. Rita Crundwell had to be one of the most trusted people on Dixon, IL's payroll. The bank assumed the money was for the city as well. She would then cause Dixon funds to be deposited into another account, the Capital Development Fund and after creating false invoices she would write checks from that fund payable to "Treasurer" and deposited those checks directly into the RSCDA account. Crundwell was the only signatory and the only person who wrote checks from that account. That account appeared to be a for the benefit of the City of Dixon, but Ms. She created an account at Fifth Third Bank and named it RSCDA account (Reserve Sewer Development Account) - Nice choice of names. Crundwell was able to obtain the funds was not extremely complicated. She knew the gig was up in April 2012 when she was first approached by the FBI and soon thereafter confessed to stealing the money over a 20 year period. Judge Reinhard just could not get over the amount of money involved and the length of time over which the crime was committed.Ĭrundwell pleaded guilty in November 2012 and has been cooperating with authorities since her arrest in the recovery of assets to repay the city. The government had requested a prison term of over 20 years while Crundwell's attorney sought some leniency for her cooperation and age by asking for only 13 years prison. Today, District Judge Philip Reinhard sentenced former City of Dixon, IL Comptroller Rita Crundwell (60) to 19 1/2 years (235 months) in prison for diverting $53 million from city coffers to her own benefit.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |