Narrator in the fall of 2011, as autumn leaves begin to warm the landscape of the picturesque town of dixon, illinois, a cold reality is taking hold. The city was drowning in debt. There were streets that went unpaved, there were sidewalks that went, you know, unfixed because the city, as they believed, had no money to take care of those sorts of things. Narrator dixon mayor jim burke hears the message of distress year after year from the city official pulling dixons Purse Strings comptroller Rita Crundwell. She would present the figures for the annual budget workshop and would show that it was gonna be nip and tuck because of the financial situation. Narrator but this fall, crundwell is taking Vacation Time to prepare for a quarter horse exhibition. Shes hoping to add to her already extensive collection of trophies as a World Champion showhorse breeder and exhibitor. Back in dixon, however, the woman filling in for crundwell goes through the citys financials and uncovers a mysterious bank account under crundwells control. In september alone, she finds more than 750,000 are inexplicably siphoned into that strange account from the citys coffers. She alerts the mayor. Our city clerk brought a Bank Statement to me. And she said, i cannot connect this with anything. I started to get sick to my stomach cause i realized this was a big ripoff going on. Narrator six months later, mayor burke sits in front of the citizens of dixon and cameras from Media Outlets across the country to explain what authorities believe may be the biggest municipal fraud in u. S. History. First of all, i would like to thank the fbi for their comprehensive response to our request for a criminal investigation into this matter. This is a traumatic, upsetting event that the citizens and council are experiencing. Narrator traumatic and upsetting are not words typically used in association with dixon, illinois. U. S. Marshal Jason Wojdylo is dispatched to dixon just days after mayor burkes press conference in the spring of 2012. The city was the size of 15,000, 16,000 people. Good, hardworking farmers, a lot of farmers in the community. You know, your typical heartland of america city. Narrator Rita Crundwell has worked in Dixon City Hall since 1970, beginning as an eager high schooler and eventually making her way up to city comptroller in 1983. My names dan langloss. Im the chief of police in the city of dixon. Narrator by the time dan langloss becomes the dixon chief of police in 2008, crundwell has been the trusted guardian of the citys finances for 25 years. She was very highly regarded, very wellrespected. If you had a question, go to rita. If you need something, go to rita. And, you know, everybody always looked at her that she could fix any problem or just take care of anything that needed to be done. Narrator if crundwells dependability is exhibited in her work, her passion is on display in another arena showing Quarter Horses at exhibitions nationwide. Marcia freeman breaks and trains horses near crundwells home in illinois and remembers crundwells early years in the industry in the mid80s. At that point, i think she was just like the regular horse person, showing showing horses as a hobby, which would involve moving in on a thursday, showing horses friday, saturday, sunday, and returning back home and going back to a normal job and work week. Narrator but crundwell takes this more seriously than a weekend hobby. In 1990, she starts her own horsebreeding business named rc Quarter Horses, llc. Theres only one problem. Showing horses is an expensive hobby, so youre gonna need to have some startup cash to do it correctly. Narrator with her humble background, crundwell doesnt have enough money to support the boarding, medical care, transportation, and trainers necessary for a worldclass breeding program. But, as dixons comptroller, large amounts of cash pass through her hands every day. According to assistant u. S. Attorney joe pedersen, on december 18, 1990, crundwell crosses a line that will change her life and the city of dixon forever. She opens a secret bank account in the citys name. And only she has control of it. She named it the r. S. C. D. A. Account, which stood for some acronym involving a sewer reserve sewer account, but it really was not a legitimate city account at all. Narrator because crundwell has full authority to write checks on the citys behalf, its easy for her to filter government money into the new account. She was creating fictitious invoices, purportedly representing different projects that were going on in the city that, in fact, never were going on, and then she would pay the bills. She would pay the invoices and then deposit those checks into the secret bank account. Narrator as the fbi will come to learn, with no one elses eyes on the secret account, crundwell is free to divert the citys money into her personal business. And she does. It has become known as the single largest municipal fraud in u. S. History. Narrator when american greed returns. Rita crundwell uses dixons money to become a world beater, but the city of dixon is just beaten down. It becomes a freeforall for her. She was aware of the Infrastructure Projects that needed to be performed in the city, but, again, feeding her needed to be performed in the city, but, again, feeding her ego seemed to be more important. Needed to be performed in the city,bewere bringing the her ego seetheater home to yourtant. With xfinity movie premiere. Such news. I know what this is. This is a real thing. Our Brand New Service that lets you watch movies at home, while theyre still in the theater. Oh, mister elton. Ahh he has figured out a way to be invisible. They picked the wrong woman. Just say xfinity movie premiere into your voice remote to bring the theater to you. Narrator by 2010, smalltown comptroller Rita Crundwell has developed an unbridled passion for victory in the world of show horses. Mike jennings is a veteran horse auctioneer who has also been showing and judging horse competitions for more than 30 years. And even he is impressed as he watches crundwell turn a onehorse stable into an American Quarter Horse dynasty. Over the last id say 10 10 to 12 years, she had elevated herself to be in the very top echelon of breeders and exhibitors. If she is not the leading owner of or breeder of World Champions, she would be very close. Narrator crundwell comes to own more than 400 horses, with more than 50 of them becoming World Champions in their class. And she isnt shy about flaunting her success in front of other horse exhibitors. When she would show up, it was this entourage of tractors and trailers you know, 18wheelertype rigs. Rita crundwell, in her mind, became a brand, and it was that brand that was built over time that was feeding her ego. And the only way it was being fed in this case was by siphoning money off from the city of dixon. Narrator because with prize money typically coming in at 5,000 to 10,000, winning doesnt equal riches. Its expensive to get to the level that she was at. And she had horses in over 15 states where she would pay people to board the horses, train them, feed them, and that cost a lot of money. Everything that ive learned about showing horses, you must either be independently wealthy, or youre stealing the money. Narrator and Rita Crundwell is not independently wealthy. While dixon citizens believe that crundwells World Champion horse business pays for itself in prize money and breeding fees, in reality, its all being funded by the city coffers. And each year, her theft grows more outrageous. This sort of depicts a graph of what the total loss was, what she was stealing. She started out in 1991. She stole 181,000. As it progressed, in 1999, she had hit the milliondollar mark, and then two years later, shes into the 2million mark. It escalates to over 5 million by 2008. It all depicts the total loss of more than 53 million. Narrator its a simple fraud that wojdylo says points to a systemic failure of dixons government. There were no checks and balances. There was no separation of duties, no segregation of duties. She did it all. Narrator with that power, crundwell has the citys checkbook to use as she pleases. When you have parttime city administrators, the mayors parttime, the city commissioners are parttime, you know, theyre trying to earn a living, to provide for their families doing something other than running the city. People simply werent asking enough questions or perhaps the right questions. Narrator in the meantime, crundwell is stealing more money under dixons nose every year, and every year, dixon is forced into painful decisions to stay afloat. In april of 2009, they needed to cut 38,000 that was intended to be used to purchase ambulance equipment, while at the same time in 2009, Rita Crundwell stole almost 5. 6 million from the city of dixon. Narrator year after year, its more of the same less money for dixons basic needs and more money for Rita Crundwells World Champion lifestyle. When she purchased several motor homes during the course of the scheme, the last one she purchased for over 2 million. She also purchased several homes. She purchased land. She purchased a large number of vehicles. She purchased jewelry for herself and others. Hundreds and hundreds of pieces of jewelry, a lot of it custommade, as you can see, with her name on it, with the rc again, her brand. Good ride was the theme of that necklace. Narrator and back on her ranch, her extravagant trophy room is a shrine to all her accomplishments, paid in full by dixon taxpayers. The room is it reeks of wealth. She had custommade barstools that had a horse theme. The sofas in the trophy room were of a horse theme. Again, it was clear where she was spending a lot of the money that she was stealing. Narrator but to residents of dixon, the newfound wealth has a perfectly reasonable explanation. Well, there would be stories like, you know, floating around town that, you know, that shed sold a horse for, say, 250,000. She had people coming from all over the United States and even some people from europe that came for this auction. So she did a great job of cultivating this image of having a very, very profitable and successful horse business. Narrator besides, crundwell works hard to keep her modest downhome image in dixon separate from the celebrity image she cultivates on the exhibition circuit. It is my understanding that she really didnt show a lot of glamour in the city. She wasnt wearing a lot of expensive jewelry, you know, wasnt wearing a lot of expensive clothing. Now, the clothing that she bought to take to the horse shows, if youre in that industry, you understand that it is rather expensive. Narrator its another way that crundwell keeps her double life a secret. Weve had a lot of people come into our industry and spend a lot of money. Sometimes you find out where their money came from, and sometimes you dont, but mostly were glad theyre in our business, you know, for a while. Narrator but she wont be an Industry Leader much longer. When american greed returns. On her quest for fame as a horse breeder, Rita Crundwell lets go of the reins at work. And takes a nasty fall. The fraud was caught because, again, as is often the case with fraudsters, it occurs when they again, as is often the case with fraudsters, it occurs when they go on vacation. Narrator by the fall of 2011, dixon comptroller Rita Crundwells message of austerity has become agonizingly repetitive. Each year at the budget hearings, you know, she would show up, certainly in the latter years as it came out as evidence sin this case, she would show up with booklets, where she had characters of, you know, someone drowning, or, you know, a pair of scissors. And it was her message was cut, cut, cut. Narrator eventually, the heads of the citys various departments learn to simply stop asking for funding. Again, not to be critical of the form of government, but when you have parttime city administrators, the mayors parttime, the city commissioners are parttime, you know, they were relying very heavily, understandably, as many city officials do, on their annual audits that were occurring, or perhaps not occurring. 21 annual audits, and and no warnings of any red flags. Nothing. Id read these audits over every year, and there was never, never any indication that that they found anything that that we ought to be taking a look at. Another piece of the puzzle is that evidence came out during the civil litigation that the auditor had a personal interest in Rita Crundwell. She had had him over for dinner. He had asked her out on dates. So perhaps his eyes were a little glazed over in looking at the numbers. Narrator could the entire town have been seduced by crundwells charms . How could they have not known 50 million were missing from the towns coffers . To put this in context, when the city was a smaller population, a smaller government, when, you know, the large box stores didnt exist in the community, when the, you know, the illinois toll road wasnt going through the county, the budget wasnt as large. And so, as the city grew over time, understandably there was more revenue being generated from taxes, from real property, and the like. As that grew, the city wasnt necessarily missing it because they didnt know it existed. Narrator in october 2011, crundwell looks to add yet more trophies to her collection from one of the biggest singlebreed horse shows in the world in columbus, ohio. But it comes at a huge cost. While filling in for crundwell, a city clerk uncovers crundwells phony sewer account that has eluded city halls eyes for more than 20 years. One of the statements from the r. S. C. D. A. Account came across her desk. She looked at it, didnt recognize it as a city account, and then expressed those concerns to the mayor, and then he forwarded that information to the fbi. Narrator for mayor burke, its the beginning of six months of nearly unbearable anxiety as he sits back and watches crundwell continue to steal millions while the fbi conducts its investigation. Once i knew what her method of operation was, we were able to see that she was taking these funds. And i even told the fbi agent once. I said, you know, if we dont find this pretty quick, there wont be any money left at the rate that shes going. Narrator when american greed returns. The fbi is ready to make an arrest. I said, these three gentlemen would like to talk with you. She said, sure, and her face never changed emotion or anything. I was watching that carefully to see how she would react, and it was just, like, real nonchalant. Narrator feeling greedy . Want more than your share of behindthescene dirt . Follow us at americangreedtv on twitter. Follow us at americangreedtv on twitter. Well be right back. Narrator finally, in the spring of 2012, mayor burke is told that the fbi is ready to make an arrest. Early in the morning on april 17th, crundwell walks into mayor burkes office and finds three fbi agents waiting. Yeah, i said, these three gentlemen would like to talk with you. She said, sure. And the her face never changed emotion or anything. I was watching that carefully to see how she would react, and it was just, like, real nonchalant. Almost made me wonder if she hadnt, you know, kind of mentally rehearsed. Narrator later that day, crundwell is escorted from the office, charged with one count of wire fraud, but for u. S. Marshal Jason Wojdylo, the work is just beginning. He seizes crundwells possessions. And brings in auctioneer Mike Jennings to conduct one of the largest, most prestigious horse auctions in the world. All to raise money to give back to the town. This was a worldprized herd that was being sold, and i knew that people were gonna come from around the world to dixon, illinois, for this auction, and they were gonna spend money. They were gonna eat at restaurants, they were gonna stay at hotels, and all that tax revenue was gonna be a byproduct or our auction, but it was very important to me, having sat down across from the dinner tables of many of these people in this community, who were true victims, who were victimized for so long and deprived of Services Public services it was very important to me to have that auction, the live auction in dixon, illinois. Narrator crundwells horses bring in 5. 5 million. Combined with selling crundwells other properties and assets, the u. S. Marshals return to dixon about 9. 2 million. Most of the rest of the 53 million she stole are simply the sunken costs of Rita Crundwell riding after her extravagant and expensive dream. In the five months that we managed the herd, we spent about 1. 8 million in costs, and thats simply to manage the herd. Were not showing the horses. So, you know, our taking over of the operation, i think, speaks to knowing what we were paying, clearly what she mustve been paying. Narrator but it turns out, all is not lost. In october 2013, mayor burke addresses the town of dixon once again. The year before, the city sues its two auditors for not detecting 53 million being diverted into crundwells pocket. And sues Fifth Third Bank for allowing her to operate the secret account right under their noses. Without admitting wrongdoing, the three Companies Agree to pay 40 million back to the city of dixon. Out of this will come a better, a sounder, and a more attractive dixon for all of us to live in. Narrator crundwell pleads guilty to one count of wire fraud, and on february 14, 2013, is sentenced to 19 years and 7 months in prison. If shes ever going to see dixons economic recovery, it wont be until shes 77 years old. In the meantime, people who worked with her day in and day out, like police chief dan langloss, still have questions. How could you, rita . How could you . How could you hurt so many people . How could you do this . How could you put peoples jobs, peoples families at risk over your greed . For what, a horse . For a trophy . Are you kidding me . [announcer] the following program is a paid advertisement for the nuwave brio digital air fryer, sponsored by nuwave. Live well for less. We all love fried foods, crunching but yuck sizzling that means scoops of grease, blobs of butter, or gallons of oil, just to fry. This adds up to a lot of unhealthy fat in your diet, year after year. Stop slamming now, you can cut out all the added fat, and still keep all the flavor with the new brio digital air fryer by nuwave, the worlds First Digital air fryer with flavor infusion technology. Coming up next, youll see how brios compact design makes mountains of crispy wings