City employee in Ronald Reagan's hometown (Dixon,IL pop 15000) steals millions from city

[cherish44]

DIXON – Longtime city comptroller and nationally know quarter horse breeder Rita A. Crundwell stole more than $30 million in city funds since 2006 – $3.2 million alone since the fall – to maintain her “lavish lifestyle,” federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Crundwell, 58, was arrested Tuesday morning at Dixon City Hall and charged with wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Also Tuesday, federal agents served search warrants at City Hall, at her home and at her horse ranches in Dixon and Beloit, Wis.

http://www.saukvalley.com/2012/04/17/comptroller-stole-millions-feds-say/apbtr6/

http://www.saukvalley.com/2012/04/18/burke-calls-events-of-day-traumatic/aedg39k/?page=3

[marmar]

1. Stealing from the public trough? A perfect way to honor her hometown's favorite son.

nt

[ProfessorGAC]

2. It's Illinois. What Did You Expect?

That's what we do here! We elect people who then steal money. I think we lead the country in governors convicted and imprisoned.
GAC

[GoCubsGo]

4. At least your courrupt governors wind up in jaiil.

Here, they get off scot-free.

[Selatius]

3. I bet a bunch of people got a cut of that. You don't move 30 million without attention. nt

[cherish44]

6. It wouldn't surpise me a bit

Like most small towns around here, there's a definite "Good 'Ole Boy" network going on with running things.

[malaise]

5. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaah hahahah - throw away the key

Between September and March, Crundwell wrote 19 checks made out to “Treasurer” totaling $3.558 million on the Capital Development Fund account, which she deposited into the “RSCDA” account that she jointly held.

Only $74,274 of that money was used for city operations. The rest – more than $3.2 million – was used for her own personal use, including $450,000 for her farm operations, $600,000 to make online credit card payments, and $67,000 to buy a 2012 Chevy Silverado pickup, the complaint said.

Agents also discovered Crundwell recently transferred more than $3.55 million in city funds to the RSCDA, prompting them to obtain additional bank records from July 2006 to March.

According to the statements, Crundwell deposited more than $30.2 million in city funds into the RSCDA account. She used that money to buy a 2009 Liberty Coach Motor Home for $2.1 million; a 2009 Kenworth T800 truck worth $146,787; a 2009 Freightliner truck worth $140,000; a 2009 Silverado worth $567,646; and 2009 Featherlite horse trailer for $258,698.

[pnwest]

7. Embezzlers confuse me. How could she POSSIBLY believe $30 million

would go unnoticed, even if she WAS greasing palms along the way? Same with Ponzi schemers. How could they not know that shit will eventually fall apart? I just don't get it.

[WI_DEM]

8. how does somebody think they are going to get away with that?

[Turbineguy]

9. She probably voted for Reagan.

A lot of people got away with that.

For a while anyway.

[snooper2]

10. Why does the fact that it was Reagan's "hometown" matter? Why is that relevant at all?

[ProfessorGAC]

12. I Think You Should Be Able To Figure That Out Yourself

It's the paper for that region in Illinois and they've been bragging about that being his hometown since he was a movie actor.

So, that's the identifying moniker for that town for nearly everybody in Illinois.

It's not like this is story originating in the national press. It's what they call that town around there.
GAC

[snooper2]

13. That's kind of sad..

[TwilightGardener]

11. Weird that they're listing the values of the horse trailer and Silverado pickup

at over $200,000 and $500,000, respectively (among other inflated values). Makes no sense.

[malaise]

14. Lots of coverage on GEM$NBComcast today

ReTHUG]/b] Rita stole $30million in a town with a budget of $9M a year.
Looks like Rita's replacement during her vacation caught the crook.

http://news.google.com/news/story?q=Rita+A.+Crundwell&hl=en&prmd=imvnsu&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=d1b8VbGX62i5_BMEnnHPBe7NeL3HM&ei=OT-UT-6yOpCztwf9rNi3Cw&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQqgIwAA&vanilla=0

This one will get more airplay

[onethatcares]

15. what would the gipper say?

would it be, "I'm from the government and I'm here to line my pockets"?

Jeeez, what kind of Silverado did she have that cost over 500K? And who in Wisconsin did she pal around with?

She's out on $4500.00 bond WTF is up with that, even the fine she faces is small enough to be considered the cost of

doing business and of course after 6 years of fucking the good citizens of Illinois she'll get the time in club fed.

steal a loaf of bread to feed your family and go to jail for 5 years.