CHICAGO (AP) -- EXCERPT---Allegations that a finance officer for a small northern Illinois city was able to steal a staggering $30 million from government coffers to run a nationally renowned horse breeding business inspired calls Wednesday for more rigorous oversight in small communities that typically face less scrutiny.
FBI agents arrested longtime comptroller Rita Crundwell accused of using the money to fund one of the nation's leading horse breeding operations and feed a lavish lifestyle that kept her outfitted with cars and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry.According to a criminal complaint, the siphoning of city funds went undetected for years until another staffer filling in as vacation relief became suspicious and discovered a secret bank account. How an enormous sum - it dwarfed the city's current annual budget of $20 million - could be stolen and escape the notice of a yearly audit left many puzzled.
Dixon, a city of about 16,000 people west of Chicago where Ronald Reagan grew up, was especially vulnerable because Crundwell, who has been comptroller since the early 1980s, had control over all of the city's finances, a common arrangement in smaller cities and towns.
Federal prosecutors say she stole $3.2 million since last fall alone and misappropriated more than $30 million since 2006.Crundwell is free on a $4,500 recognizance bond. A federal judge barred her Wednesday from selling any property while the wire fraud case proceeds and limited her travel to northern Illinois and to Wisconsin, where she has horse ranches.
Agents searching her home, office and farms in Dixon and Beloit, Wis., seized seven trucks and trailers, three pickup trucks, a $2.1 million motor home and a Ford Thunderbird convertible - all allegedly bought with illegal proceeds.
Authorities also seized the contents of two bank accounts she controlled. Between January 2007 and March of this year, she is accused of racking up more than $2.5 million on her personal American Express card - including $339,000 on jewelry - and using Dixon funds to pay back the charges. Prosecutors say she used $450,000 in stolen funds for operations at her Meri-J Ranch, where she keeps about 150 horses.
Crundwell is one of the top horse breeders in the nation. Her ranch produced 52 world champions, according to the American Quarter Horse Association in Amarillo, Texas, the world's largest equine breed registry and membership organization.
Dixon placed Crundwell on administrative leave without pay and named a new interim comptroller.
Trying to explain how that much money could disappear unnoticed, Mayor James Burke said Dixon has struggled financially with big infrastructure expenditures, reduced revenues and cash flow problems made worse because the state is far behind on income tax disbursements. That provided plausible reasons to think the extra hole in the budget was related to those financial problems, he said.
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INSANE chick...
So powerful that the 'Horse People' were able to stop the extension of an Expressway (Tollway actually), and it was a much needed extension due to suburban growth(1). Plus the 'Horse People' are downright ruthless, like Wiseguys on Horses instead of in Caddy's and with Custom hand made Saddles instead of Pinky Rings.
The 'Horse People' even have their own Hitmen. A 'few' (10?) years back one tough guy and 'Horsey' scam artist Richard Baily was linked to the cold-case Murder of 'Candy Heiress' Helen Brach and of the Murder of the Schuessler - Peterson boys back in 1955! Us kids were all warned about the danger of 'strangers' then and we were watched like hawks for some time by our parents.
So this is not surprising to me. IMO anyone involved in or part of the 'Horse People Community' are suspect of some crime. Insurance Fraud is a fave of theirs. They'll whack an older or 'useless' horse of theirs for the insurance money.
(1) Go to Google or Bing maps for Lombard, IL (+/-26 miles directly West of Chicago), find I-355 (Tollway) and follow it North. It will turn into I-290 (free 'Expressway') still going North, then it abruptly ENDS at Lake-Cook Road. The 'Horse People' did this as that's where 'their territory' starts.
holy cow!!!!!