Presidential slate of pardons includes former FCI inmate

President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people, a majority of whom were on “home confinement” under a pandemic era program on Dec. 12, 2024.

Among those who benefitted is former Waseca resident Rita A. Crundwell. Her address had been 1000 University Drive, otherwise known as the Federal Correctional Institute (FCI), where she served 8.5 years of a 19.6 year sentence. She was released to home confinement on August 4, 2021.

According to CBS News, while serving as treasurer and city comptroller for the city of Dixon, Ill.,  from 1983 until 2012, Crundwell was able to embezzle a total of $53.7 million. Her first theft was $25,000 and occurred in 1988 while gradually siphoning money from a program titled “Dixon Sister City”;  this theft took two years. In 1990, Crundwell opened an account which appeared to belong to the city, naming it “Reserve Sewer Capital Development Account” (RSCDA), to which only she had access. She went on to create false invoices and write checks to herself. Her first large embezzlement was $181,000 in 1991. From there her average theft was $2.5 million per year with the largest in one year totaling $5.8 million in 2008. Census.gov says Dixon, Illinois has a population of 15,000; Waseca’s population is 9,000.

To explain funding shortfalls, according to Newsweek, Crundwell claimed the state was late in making payments of tax revenue to the city. Crundwell’s thefts were discovered in the fall of 2011 when she took an extended vacation; city clerk and acting comptroller Kathe Swanson discovered the RSCDA account with 179 deposits and associated checking activity. Swanson alerted Dixon Mayor James Burke, who alerted the FBI. For the next six months, while the FBI was building its case, both Burke and Swanson maintained “business as usual” while Crundwell continued working. She was arrested on April 17, 2012, at work.

According to Politico and Wikipedia, during the thefts, city employees went two or more years without raises. The Dixon Police Department was unable to acquire updated equipment. City streets went without repair for a decade, and three of nine city workers were laid off to combat the budget losses. In 2011 one of the Dixon city commissioners had stated Crundwell “looks after every tax dollar as if it were her own.” 

Across the span of 1988 to 2012, Crundwell prospered. She was named as a leading owner by the American Quarter Horse Association for eight years running: Her horses won 52 world championships. Assumed to be a beneficiary of an inheritance, Crundwell had acquired several cars, a $2.1 million motorhome, a Florida vacation house with custom built furniture, and 405 horses.   

In 2013, the city of Dixon brought a lawsuit against its financial auditors, as well as the city's banker, Fifth Third Bank, for failing to catch any theft. In September of 2013, the auditors and Fifth Third settled for $40 million, while the auction of Crundwell's assets brought in over $9 million.

Crundwell was sentenced by Judge Philip Reinhard on Feb. 14, 2013, to 19 years and seven months. On March 26, 2020, after serving only 8.5 years of her 19-year sentence, then Attorney General William Barr submitted a Response to Covid-19 Pandemic. Crundwell requested home confinement under the First Step Act citing health reasons, which was granted on August 4, 2021.

Dixon City Manager Danny Langlossa said the City of Dixon was not pleased with the decision to commute Crundwell's sentence: "The City of Dixon is shocked and outraged with the announcement that President Biden has given Rita Crundwell clemency for the largest municipal embezzlement in the history of our country. This is a complete travesty of justice and a slap in the face for our entire community.”

According to USA Today, also commuted were the sentences of Minnesotans Kelsie Lynn Becklin, 38, of Falcon Heights;  Sarah Jean Carlson, 49, of Coon Rapids; and Lashawn Marrvinia Walker, 51, of Minneapolis.