DIXON, Ill. — Update: Rita Crundwell has been transferred from prison into a different type of facility, such as a home confinement or a residential reentry center, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
This transfer was done on Wednesday, August 4, which led officials with the City of Dixon to believe that her sentence was cut short by several years, but she does remain in federal custody.
Crundwell was the former comptroller for the city when she was convicted of embezzling tens of millions of dollars over the course of two decades. She was sentenced to serve 85% of a 19-year sentence.
She is set for release on October 20, 2029.
Original:
Officials of the City of Dixon, Illinois were surprised with the information that Rita Crundwell, the City's former comptroller, was released about halfway through her prison sentence on Wednesday, August 4.
The Dixon Police Department published a Facebook post in the evening announcing the notice to the public, and detailing the circumstances surrounding the release.
In February 2013, Crundwell was convicted of stealing $54 million from the City over her career for her personal gain, using a bank account she opened in the city's name alongside personally hiding the records of her scheme and using falsified invoices that went unnoticed by auditors.
Crundwell was sentenced 19 years and 7 months in federal prison, and was expected to complete about 85% of this sentence, putting her on track to be released on October 20, 2029.
According to the City, there had been prior rumors of the possibility of this release for about a week, which turned out to be true when officials contacted the Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin.
According to the City, the prison official they spoke to did not know the erason for the early release.
Previously, Crundwell had made a request for an early release in April 2020, citing the dangers of COVID-19 and her often-publicized list of health problems, which Dixon officials strongly opposed. She later withdrew the request.
In a statement, Mayor Liandro Arellano expressed frustration about the incident, specifically noting that the City was not notified of the release ahead of time.
“It is incredibly frustrating that Dixon was given no victim notification of Rita Crundwell’s release. Dixonites are still dealing with the social and financial aftermath of the damage she did, and our community deserved notice of and reasoning for this decision," he said.
Information on Crundwell's release is still limited, and the City of Dixon says it will release more when it becomes available.