To Pekin's warden: Dixon 'stands united in strong opposition' to Crundwell release

DIXON – How does the city of Dixon feel about Rita Crundwell serving the rest of her time in home confinement back in her hometown? Or to simply being released with less than half of her 19-plus-year sentence under her saddle?

That would be a no. That would be a resounding no.

"All 103 members of our city team, and our community stand united in strong opposition to the early release of Rita Crundwell," City Manager Danny Langloss wrote in a letter to the warden of Pekin Correctional Center, the federal lockup where she is housed.

The notorious thief, who stole nearly $54 million from the city she worked for from the age of 16 until her arrest more than 3 decades later, is seeking compassionate release from federal prison out of fear she will contract coronavirus and die.

She first must seek relief from Warden Frederick Entzel; if he denies her, she can appeal that denial to federal court in Rockford.

The former city comptroller's 20-year embezzlement, which fueled an internationally renowned horse-breeding empire, remains the largest municipal theft in U.S. history. It has become a textbook case, changed the way multiple governments oversee their books, and is the subject of at least one documentary.

"Rita lived a life of luxury while Dixon's roadways crumbled, public infrastructure was neglected, public safety services were denied necessary funding and city employees took mulitiyear pay freezes," Langloss wrote.

"The damage she has done, both financially and psychologically, was and remains unprecedented. Early release of Rita Crundwell would destroy trust and confidence in our great judicial system, send a dangerous message to any public official considering theft, and reignite the rage and anger that our Dixon community has worked so hard to overcome."

Langloss, chief of police when Crundwell was arrested at City Hall on April 17, 2012, included with the letter the late Mayor Jim Burke's victim impact statement submitted at her sentencing on Feb. 14, 2013, to 17 years and 5 months for wire fraud.

"Rita Crundwell saw firsthand the penalty the city was paying for financing her high‐flying 20‐plus years' super‐ego lifestyle, averaging well over $2 million per year," Burke wrote. "She had the good life without conscience and regard for the taxpayers and her co‐workers. Rita must pay the price!"

Crundwell is asking for compassionate release because she has multiple health issues that have put her in fear of contracting COVID-19 in prison.

“I know at my sentencing you felt I was not given a death sentence with my projected age of release of 77, but now with my deteriorating health condition, and the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic, I feel I have been given a death sentence,” Crundwell wrote in a 7-and-a-half page handwritten request to Judge Philip Reinhard, filed April 27 in federal court in Rockford.

In his response, filed April 29, Reinhard noted that, per statute, Crundwell can file a motion seeking compassionate release after she "has fully exhausted all administrative rights to appeal a failure of the Bureau of Prisons to bring a motion on the defendant's behalf or the lapse of 30 days from the receipt of such a request by the warden of the defendant's facility."

Crundwell noted that she had filed such a request with Entzel on April 22. As of today, he had not yet made a decision public.

She asked Reinhard for a reduction in her sentence so that she will have served half and be eligible for early release, or if not that, then compassionate release, if the warden denies her request.

A federal defender was appointed to represent her. That attorney has until Friday to show Crundwell has exhausted all administrative avenues, and to provide her medical records and other pertinent information upon which Reinhard will base his decision.

If the decision falls to him, the judge will file his ruling by June 5; the defense will have until June 26 to file its response.

In her letter, Crundwell cites several reasons she believes she meets the criteria for compassionate release. They include her age, 67; health issues; her status as a model, minimum-security prisoner – which already has shaved 5 months off her sentence; that she has learned new skills (she was a seamstress in Waseca, Minn., her first lockup, for four years, and worked in the kitchen in Pekin for two); and she can live with her brother in Dixon.

Those are among the considerations Attorney General William Barr has said must be met for a federal prisoner to be released to home confinement.

To be released because of the virus, the Bureau of Prisons has said in a memo that it is prioritizing prisoners who have served at least half of their sentences, or who have 18 months or less left and have served 25% of their sentences.

Crundwell is two years away from the 50% benchmark.

Originally set to be released March 5, 2030, her new release date is Oct. 29, 2029.

In her letter, Crundwell cites “several" issues, including "chronic hypertension, high cholesterol, chronic pain from severe scoliosis, and a pinched sciatic nerve in lower back causing constant pain and numbness to my toes.

"I had one hip replaced 8/17 in Carswell Medical Center and the doctor warned the other hip will need to be replaced due to deterioration caused by arthritis. I currently have only 56% of my kidney usage remaining due to the large amounts of ibuprofen I was prescribed for four years by the doctor in Waseca, MN, for the chronic pain.

"I also just had a mass removed April 20, 2020, from under my right arm that they were afraid might be a malignant tumor due to my long family history of cancer.”

Should she be released, she would live with her brother Richard Humphrey on his farm in rural Dixon, she wrote.