The chief financial officer of Dixon, Ill., has been put on unpaid leave after she was arrested by FBI agents and charged with defrauding the city of $3.2 million and misappropriating another $30 million in city funds.
The arrest of Rita Crundwell, who was charged with a single count of wire fraud, has shaken the northwest Illinois town, which has a population of just under 16,000, according to the Chicago Tribune. Authorities say Crundwell stole the funds over six years to support her luxurious lifestyle.
Crundwell, an award-winning quarter horse breeder, spent the money on jewelry, a motor home, and her horse farms in Wisconsin, reports the Tribune.
Federal agents seized the contents of two bank accounts, seven trucks and trailers, three pickups, a $2.1 million motor home, and a Ford Thunderbird convertible -- all of which were purchased with illegal proceeds, according to federal authorities.
Dixon Mayor James Burke today told an audience of reporters and citizens that independent
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