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Embezzlement.
Dixon, Illinois is a small town in northern Illinois with nearly 16,000 citizens. One of those citizens, Rita Crundwell, was born and raised in this small town. Before she graduated high school in 1970, she began working for the city where she worked for the next 42 years. During this time, Crundwell had many changes happen in her life, the first being that she married an engineer tech in 1974 and then began showing quarter horses in 1978. After working for the city for 13 years, Crundwell was hired as the comptroller for the small town that paid her $80,000 a year. She was living the American dream, married, a good job, and doing what she loved by training horses. .
In 1986, her picture-perfect life took a hit when her and her husband divorced as Crundwell cited mental abuse and frequent arguing as the cause. Before long, Crundwell bought 3 quarter horses that were housed on her property that she inherited from her deceased mother. Authorities believe this was the time frame that the embezzlement began to occur. Over the next 22 years, Crundwell took $53 million dollars that were meant for the city of Dixon, and used this money to make lavish upgrades on her property, luxury items, and caring for her horses. In 2006, she demolished the house and built a new 3,400 square foot home on the property. .
In 2011, Crundwell went on vacation and another city clerk was covering for her. The clerk opened the mail and discovered an unauthorized account that is in the cities name. This caused the city to notify the FBI who began investigating Crundwell and her activities. During the investigation, it was learned that Crundwell had opened the account in 1990 and was the only person aware of this account. Crundwell would funnel money that was supposed to be used for the city into this account and then use the money as her own. During the 20 years that Crundwell was committing this fraud, the city had budget shortfalls nearly every year and many employees did not receive raises during this time.
