Biden infuriates locals with clemency for fraudster who stole $53 million from her small city

Two weeks after issuing a "full and unconditional" pardon for his felonious son Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden granted clemency consisting of 39 pardons and 1,499 commutations for people released from prison then placed on home confinement during the pandemic. Among those who had their sentences commuted was the disgraced former comptroller of Dixon, Illinois, Rita Crundwell.

This did not sit well with residents of the city Biden's beneficiary robbed blind for decades.

"I'm very disappointed ... angry," Li Arellano Jr., the former mayor of Dixon, told WREX-TV. "Are we really going through this again?"

"It was really just another gut punch to the city of Dixon," said city Councilman Mike Venier.

Crundwell was sentenced in 2013 to 19 years and 7 months in federal prison for stealing $53.7 million from Dixon.

The presiding judge found that in the process of stealing tens of millions of dollars from her fellow Americans, Crundwell inflicted a significant nonmonetary loss on the city, undermining public confidence in local government and striking at "the very heart of Dixon's abilities to provide essentials for its citizenry."

The Department of Justice indicated that Crundwell kicked off her fraud scheme in December 1990 when she opened a secret bank account in the name of the city of Dixon. She repeatedly transferred city funds from the capital development account into her burgeoning slush fund, squirreling away $181,000 in 1991. She ended up taking an average of roughly $2.5 million a year from the city over the course of the 20-year scheme.

Crundwell reportedly told the city its chronic lack of funds was the result of a downturn in the economy and even blamed the state of Illinois for failing to pay its fair share. Crundwell was stealing so much from the people of Dixon that the city had to make budget cuts, adversely impacting operations.

'Commuting her 20-year sentence is a slap in the face.'

When Crundwell went on an extended vacation in 2011, another city employee requested all of Dixon's bank statements, exposing the secret account. Upon learning of the fraud, the mayor alerted the relevant authorities.

Around the time she pleaded guilty, Dixon resident Joyce Gibson told CBS News, "It's caused a lot of turmoil, a lot of hard feelings, a lot of accusations."

Jeff Kuhn, another resident, noted, "I would really, myself, like to see some sign of remorse. I haven't seen it at all."

Although Crundwell was supposed to rot in jail until at least Oct. 20, 2029, she reportedly petitioned in April 2020 for early release, claiming her health was deteriorating. Every member of the city government and members of the community requested that the prison refuse her petition.

Despite executing what is believed to be the largest theft of public funds in the history of Illinois — blowing taxpayer money on over 400 horses; over 48 trucks; a luxury motor home; classic cars; a boat; 80 acres of land in Lee County; jewelry; personal credit cards; business expenses; and furnishing at least three homes, including a Florida vacation home — she was released in August 2021 under the CARES Act, which allowed for convicts at high-risk of COVID-19 to be moved to home arrest.

Biden apparently figured house arrest was too much for a woman who had betrayed and weakened her city, so he commuted the rest of her sentence, rubbing salt in old wounds.

Arellano told WREX, "There were sacrifices, really deep sacrifices made in this community over 20 to 30 years because of this. It's very personal for people in Dixon. ... This should be the time of year when we're recapping a successful year, talking about growth and progress, and now we're talking about why the woman who committed the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history is going to be out on the streets."

"This is a tough one to swallow. This is a lady who had so much trust in her throughout our community and over 20 years, with a smile on her face, stole $54 million from the people that put that trust into her," said Venier. "She still owes us 50-plus million dollars. The day she comes to city hall with a certified check for $50 million ... maybe we'll have a softer sense about the whole situation, but until that day, she'll never be innocent."

"While many families in Dixon were living paycheck to paycheck, she took advantage of their trust in government and used her access to live an unearned life of luxury, in what the FBI still believes to be the largest theft of public funds in U.S. history," Republican Illinois Rep. Darin LaHood said in a statement. "Commuting her 20-year sentence is a slap in the face to all the hardworking police officers, firefighters, city workers, and residents of Dixon."

Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.) noted on X, "Her case remains the biggest municipal fraud case in U.S. history. Getting off scot free today is such a load of BS."

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