Biden commutes prison sentence of Rita Crundwell, former comptroller who embezzled $53M from city of Dixon

DIXON – Rita Crundwell, the former Dixon city comptroller convicted of embezzling $53.7 million from the city – pegged as the largest municipal theft in U.S. history – is among one of roughly 1,500 people granted clemency by President Joe Biden just weeks before he leaves office.

Four years shy of completing a 19-year, 7-month prison sentence for a single count of wire fraud, Crundwell – federal prisoner No. 44540-424 – was listed Thursday among the roughly 1,500 people whose sentences are being commuted or pardoned in what is the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history,

Biden’s sweeping act will commute 1,499 sentences of prisoners who had been released and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and also grants pardons to 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes.

“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in a statement. “As president, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses.”

A pardon relieves a person of guilt and punishment. Commuting a sentence, as in Crundwell’s case, reduces or eliminates the punishment but doesn’t exonerate the wrongdoing. The Board of Prisons website indicates she originally was set to be discharged from her sentence Oct. 20, 2028, three months before she turns 76.

The Crundwell case

The Crundwell saga began more than a dozen years ago when the mayor, the late Jim Burke, went to the FBI in October 2011 with concerns about phony city bank accounts and money gone missing.

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Flanked by her attorneys, Rita Crundwell arrives at Federal Court in Rockford Monday, May 7, 2012 where she pled not guilty to wire fraud. (Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com)

Crundwell was taken out of city hall in handcuffs April 17, 2012, accused of stealing millions of city funds across her tenure in office. She used the funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle raising champion quarter horses, a $2 million tour bus, jewels, furs, multiple homes and other trappings while Dixon struggled to pay for infrastructure and other projects.

After pleading guilty, she was sentenced Feb. 14, 2013, to nearly the 20-year maximum by U.S. District Judge Philip G. Reinhard in federal court in Rockford.

Crundwell was required to serve as least 85% of her sentence, but she was released from federal prison in Pekin in August 2021, about a year after pursuing compassionate release citing illness and fear of contracting COVID-19.

Crundwell cited a variety of health issues in her petition for early release, granted under the terms of the CARES Act, which went into effect March 26, 2020. The act expanded the Bureau of Prison’s home-confinement program as a means to keep COVID-19 from raging through federal lockups.

In all, Crundwell served 8½ years in the Pekin Correctional Center. Crundwell was allowed to return to her family in Dixon but her current whereabouts are not known.

Dixon was made almost financially whole by a settlement with the company that gave its books a clean bill of health year after year, and by proceeds from the sale of Crundwell’s belongings.

The aftershock of Crundwell’s crimes led to an overhaul in city government, starting with then-Financial Director Paula Meyer adopting a new system of financial checks and balances. The city also held a referendum where community members decided to convert to a council-manager form of government rather than commissioner form. Voters then elected a new council and mayor and many city policies, from auditing and financial duties to department heads and transparency practices, were restructured.