Biden commutes sentence of official who stole $53 million from small town

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President Biden made history on Thursday when he transformed prison sentences of nearly 1,500 people and granted 49 pardons, marking the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.

In the sweeping move, Biden shaved years off the sentence of the person convicted of the largest municipal embezzlement in American history, angering the current leaders of the small town she stole from.

Biden is speaking

President Biden speaks during the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference in Washington, DC, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. Biden commuted the sentences of Rita Crundwell and nearly 1,500 others this week. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Included on the list of released inmates Biden had placed in the home during the COVID-19 pandemic was Rita Crundwell, the former Dixon, Illinois, warden who was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to nearly 20 years behind bars for stealing nearly $54 million from the town of 15,000 people over two decades.

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Crundwell, now 71, admitted to embezzling from the city of Dixon during her time as comptroller, using the stolen funds to support a lavish lifestyle that included bankrolling her horse farm, buying real estate and buying more than four dozen vehicles and a luxury motorhome.

Rita Crundwell in 2012

Rita Crundwell, former controller for the City of Dixon, Ill., turns away as her attorney briefly speaks to the media after Crundwell pleaded guilty in federal court in Rockford, Ill., Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. Crundwell stole over $53 million. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/MCT/Getty Images)

Crundwell was set to serve 85% of her sentence, which would have kept her in prison until Oct. 20, 2029, according to CBS News. But she was released to house arrest early on August 4, 2021, where she remained until Biden commuted his sentence this week.

“The City of Dixon is shocked and outraged by the announcement that President Biden has pardoned Rita Crundwell for the largest municipal embezzlement in our nation’s history,” current Dixon City Manager Danny Langlossa said in a statement responding to Biden’s commutation of Crundwell’s sentence. . “This is a complete travesty of justice and a slap in the face to our entire society.”

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“While today’s news is unimaginable, the city of Dixon is an incredible place today,” Langlossa added. “We will continue to focus on the future and work to capitalize on the momentum we have created.”