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“That’s very indicative of Dixon at that time.”īut now the shock of April had become the simmering rage of early May.

“Have you ever heard the phrase ‘We grew up poor, but we didn’t know it?’” asked Matthew Lenox, who was 16 at the time of the arrest and now works for the Dixon Chamber of Commerce. Police had stopped using the road along the picturesque Rock River as a speed trap because no one sped there anymore: The rutted pavement damaged cars at high speeds. He did not take questions.Ĭrundwell’s arrest itself had begun to answer many of the more basic questions: why city budgets had faced such steep cuts for years why some municipal vehicles had holes in the floors and the ambulance spewed smoke why sidewalks were crumbling and pipes disrepaired to the degree that, within a few years after Crundwell’s arrest, a sinkhole would open up on West 7 th Street like some kind of ham-handed metaphor for disappearing taxpayer dollars. Burke vowed to help the FBI investigate and recover the assets. Yes, the city had struggled financially, then-Mayor Jim Burke acknowledged at the press conference announcing Crundwell’s arrest in April 2012, but Dixon was no different than many other communities around the country: Declining tax revenues, tardy payments from the state, rising health care costs and infrastructure investments all added up, he said, to a “plausible reason for the financial problems our community is facing.” Burke did not note that all of this had happened as Crundwell herself was building a nationally renowned horse-breeding empire, racking up awards and riches while only making about $80,000 a year in her day job.

The bank that handled city accounts had never flagged anything amiss. Dixon’s finances had not only passed annual independent audits but also audit reviews by the state of Illinois. She was sentenced to more than 19 years in federal prison in 2013 and is serving her sentence at Waseca Federal Correctional Institute in Minnesota.įor more information on the case, please click here.What had so enraged the citizens of Dixon was that until late 2011, no one seemed to notice this theft – for some 20 years. The two auctions held in late 2015 yielded $118,832, and a sealed bid auction for Crundwell’s large collection of trophies brought in $5,560.Ĭrundwell, 63, was one of the leading breeders of quarter horses in the U.S. “This may be the final opportunity to purchase property from this case.” Marshals Service Asset Forfeiture Division. “Following the sale of these items we anticipate another restitution payment will be issued to the city of Dixon,” said Chief Inspector Jason Wojdylo with the U.S. 2 at Items for sale include jewelry, show and riding clothing, nine horse-show belt-buckle awards, cowboy boots, horse equipment, a Viking stainless steel grill, household items, artworks and a Yamaha scooter. The current online auction runs through Feb. These are items that did not sell in two separate auctions held at the end of 2015, and opening bids have been lowered.

Marshals are auctioning approximately 376 lots, many horse-related, once belonging to Rita Crundwell,the former comptroller of Dixon, Illinois, who was convicted of fraud in 2012 for stealing $53.7 million from the city over two decades.