Crundwell Pleads Not Guilty To Wire Fraud

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Crundwell Pleads Not Guilty To Wire Fraud

SaukValley.com

Published 05/07/2012 - 11:36 a.m. CDT

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Rita Crundwell (center) and her two attorneys walk past reporters as they head to the federal courthouse Monday morning in Rockford. (Chris Johnson/Shaw News Service)

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ROCKFORD — Former Dixon Comptroller Rita A. Crundwell pleaded not guilty in federal court this morning.

She is charged with one count of wire fraud, part of what prosecutors say was a misappropriation of $53 million of city funds over more than two decades.

The federal government also has filed a civil suit to take possession of Crundwell's more than 300 horses in an effort to recoup some of Dixon's lost funds. A status hearing on both the criminal and civil cases was set for 11 a.m. June 15.

Click here for more of the story from SaukValley.com

Rita Crundwell Arrested for Fraud; Free on $4,500 Bond

Indictment: Crundwell Defrauded $53M Since 1990; Has 311 Horses

8 comments for this article

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Added: May 09, 2012. 03:00 PM CDT

Public Defender - No Funds/That's Questionable???

So how is Rita providing for her "most basic" living expenses (food, housing, utilities, phone, etc). Something is amiss here. Is someone providing her with daily living expenses? Or, even worse, is she going to apply for food stamps and utlility assistance!!! I would venture to say there is some hidden cash and/or someone else is keeping whatever stash she has left. It's terribly sad - that honest working folks can't even qualify for assistance when the money Rita took could have possibly changed their lives for the better.

Disgusted

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Added: May 08, 2012. 06:26 AM CDT

Cleopatra

Queen of Denial...

TTT

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Added: May 07, 2012. 10:48 PM CDT

In respect to the public defender, Rita was granted one because she has no means to pay a lawyer. You are only given a public defender if you can prove you are indigent and the FBI has seized or frozen all her assetts and bank accounts. She has turned all 311 horses over to the care of a federal marshall.

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Added: May 07, 2012. 05:30 PM CDT

Public Defender???

How interesting. She can afford 311 horses, a multitude of trainers, the best of everything money can buy and she is....not guilty....but she can only afford a public defender to represent her in what should send her to jail for 20 or 30 years.

Squealer's Mom

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Added: May 07, 2012. 03:28 PM CDT

Deceitful - An Understatement

How dare she plead guilty when in fact she already confessed to illegally taking funds while in her position!!!! So now she's building lies on top of lies. Hopefully, she is setting herself up for a big fall. Unfortunately, taxpayers will be footing the bill not only for (however) long the trial takes but also the care of the 300+ head of horses (and what will happen to those at different trainer's barns - hope they turned them out to pasture - but it will cost them money). Ms. Crundwell should be barred from owning and showing horses (whatever breed). This is just the tip of the iceberg. Think of all the money she put towards futurities, all the money she set up to award amateur exhibitors (won't be there now) - and if anyone bought a horse from her it's a fraudulent sale. What a mess - a web of lies, deceit and fraud. Sorry for the people of Dixon who will never recoup the total amount Rita absconded with for her own narcisstic ego. May she reap the reward of spending the rest of her life looking through bars. And AQHA needs to do something as well instead of just "standing in the sidelines" - they need to protect people instead of perpetuating this type of activity (and most of it is pretty obvious especially in the showring). Regular folks who train their own horses and save their money for a few shows really don't have a "snowball's chance in H*LL" when they are up against the Ritas of the world

Disgusted By This All

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Added: May 07, 2012. 02:51 PM CDT

Sorry Excuse!

What a sorry excuse for a human being she has turned out to be! Selfish, greedy, self-indulgent and a sense of self-entitlement the likes of which I have never seen! Hasn't she screwed the taxpayers out of enough money....now it'll cost them even more for order for this sorry excuse to get a long, drawn out trial. I've said it before and I'll say it again, thank God her parents aren't here to witness this atrocity!

lab

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Added: May 07, 2012. 01:54 PM CDT

Not guilty?

Horse pucky!

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Added: May 07, 2012. 01:00 PM CDT

Heck NO!!

Why not plead not guilty and cost the taxpayers much more money...way to go Rita! The one thing good about her we could have said was "well at least she pled guilty and saved some money". What a loser!

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