City Official wire fraud 30 Million

This is a story that deals with my neighboring town involving, in my opinion, a large group of city officials being completely corrupt and having no sense of internal affairs or oversight. This is also an example of organizational failure. The case involves the City of Dixon Comptroller “misappropriating” over 30 million dollars over a six year period, all the while loaning lump sums of money to co-workers and fellow horse breeders, charging interest at low rates in order to help her co-workers with small investments under the table.

            Rita Crundwell was a very trusted city official, after performing her duties perfectly for the past decade. She lived a lavish life and was looked up to by the public for her nationally known horse breeding farms. Many wondered where she attainted the proper funds to take care of her two horse ranches, one in Dixon, IL and the other in Beloit, WI.  She was never regarded as a thief, however until lately, she has been reprimanded from position with the city along with being arrested and bailed for $4,500. She remains in the county however on supervision. Her maximum charge for wire fraud, which is only a one count indictment, says 20 years following a 250,000 fine for punishment.

         

 The feds have reportedly seized most of Mrs. Crundwell’s financial documents along with her many assets involving her horse activity. A 2.1 million dollar RV was seized along with over 25 top-of-the line horse breeds. The Federal Bureau of Investigations plans on obtaining search warrants for the city officials in which Rita lent to.  Allow most claim that these were personal loans and involved nothing with city money, the feds are digging as deep as possible to uncover the truth and obtain enough evidence to convict anyone involved. Thirty million dollars in my neck of the woods is an absolute absurd amount of money to be stolen. The internal affairs branch is beginning to investigate because this amount of money is out of hand for a six year period.  She was transported to Rockford federal courthouse and charged, waiving her right to a preliminary hearing. She was arrested Tuesday morning at the Dixon City Hall, and has remained in the Ogle County jail since. This is a super sensitive subject throughout my area and many people knew her personally. This is very surprising and I’m excited to see the final outcome.

Sources:

http://www.saukvalley.com/2012/04/18/crundwell-free-on-4-500-bond/a2ge00j/

http://www.saukvalley.com/arrest-at-city-hall/