How one woman stole $53 million from her hometown for over two decades without being caught

A trusted Illinois treasurer managed to embezzle more than $50 million (£39.6m) from her hometown, flying under the radar for more than 20 years.

Rita Crundwell had been appointed comptroller of Dixon, Illinois for seven years in 1990 when she decided to set up a secret account.

Called the Reserve Sewer Capital Development Account (RSCDA), she used it to steal almost $2.5m (roughly £1.8m) per year from the city, embezzling a massive $5.8 million (£4.3m) in 2008.

Dixon's annual budget was only between $8-9m.

Swindling more than $53m over 22 years, she used the funds to live a life of luxury. Crundwell set up and ran RC Quarter Horses, one of the best-known horse breeding companies in the US.

Impressively, her steeds won some 52 world championships.

All The Queen's Horses

Crundwell also treated herself to a 45-foot motorhome and took extended vacations.

It was the latter that would lead to her downfall - albeit decades later.

Shamelessly, Crundwell, now 71, covered up her crime by incorrectly blaming the city's shortfall on the state’s delayed tax payments.

It forced drastic service cuts across Dixon, with employees going without raises for more than two years, police radios not being upgraded, and street maintenance being majorly scaled back.

Just how does someone get away with stealing such huge sums of money - and for so long?

Well, Crundwell was highly-regarded and trusted in the city.

People assumed her flourishing horse business or a large inheritance funded her high-flying lifestyle; they could never have imagined the truth.

But Crundwell's scheme was foiled in the autumn of 2011, while she was on one of her many extended vacations.

Rita, now 71, was sentenced to almost 20 years in prison for wire fraud

In her absence, acting comptroller Kathe Swanson discovered the RSCDA account and consequently alerted the mayor and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

On her return to work on April 17, 2012, Crundwell was arrested, and months later, on November 14, she pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.

She was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in federal prison and was made to forfeit nearly all her assets, including some 400 horses.

After spending eight years behind bars, in 2021, Crundwell was granted home confinement and moved to her brother’s 80-acre farm in Dixon.

The Covid pandemic, health issues - including high cholesterol and high blood pressure - and reportedly good behavior led her to be put on house confinement.

Her sentence ends on October 20, 2028.