Biden commutes sentence of official who stole $53M from small city

President Biden made historical past on Thursday when he commuted the jail sentences of practically 1,500 individuals and granted 49 pardons, marking the most important single-day act of clemency in fashionable historical past.

Within the sweeping transfer, Biden shaved years off the sentence of the particular person convicted within the largest municipal embezzlement in U.S. historical past, angering the present leaders of the small city she stole from.

President Biden speaks throughout the Nationwide Affiliation of Counties legislative convention in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. Biden commuted the sentence of Rita Crundwell and practically 1,500 others this week. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)

Included within the listing of inmates Biden launched who had been positioned underneath house confinement throughout the COVID-19 pandemic was Rita Crundwell, the previous comptroller of Dixon, Illinois, who was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to just about 20 years behind bars for stealing practically $54 million from the city of 15,000 individuals over 20 years.

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Crundwell, now 71, admitted to embezzling from town of Dixon throughout her time as comptroller, utilizing the stolen funds to assist a lavish life-style, which included bankrolling her horse breeding operation, buying actual property, and shopping for greater than 4 dozen automobiles and a luxurious motor house.

Rita Crundwell, former comptroller for the Metropolis of Dixon, In poor health., turns away as her lawyer briefly speaks with the media after Crundwell pleaded responsible in federal courtroom in Rockford, In poor health., on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. Crundwell stole over $53 million. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/MCT / Getty Photographs)

Crundwell was set to serve out 85% of her sentence, which might have stored her in jail till Oct. 20, 2029, in response to CBS Information. However she was launched on home arrest early on Aug. 4, 2021, the place she remained till Biden commuted her sentence this week.

“The Metropolis of Dixon is shocked and outraged with the announcement that President Biden has given Rita Crundwell clemency for the most important municipal embezzlement within the historical past of our nation,” present Dixon Metropolis Supervisor Danny Langlossa stated in a press release reacting to Biden’s commutation of Crundwell’s sentence. “This can be a full travesty of justice and a slap within the face for our whole group.”

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“Whereas immediately’s information is unimaginable, the Metropolis of Dixon is in an unimaginable place immediately,” Langlossa added. “We’ll proceed to concentrate on the longer term and work to capitalize on the momentum we’ve got created.”