City of Dixon sends formal letter objecting to Rita Crundwell's compassionate release request

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The City of Dixon has sent a formal letter to the warden of the federal prison in Pekin objecting to former comptroller

Rita Crundwell's request for a compassionate release

Crundwell is serving a sentence of 19 years, seven months for embezzling nearly $54 million from the city over 20 years.

On April 22, she wrote an eight-page letter to Judge Philip G. Reinhard seeking to be released because of concerns of the coronavirus and remain on home detention at her brother’s farm just outside Dixon city limits.

"I know at my sentencing, you felt I was not given a death sentence with my projected age at release of 77, but now with my deteriorating health condition and the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic, I feel like I have been given a death sentence," Crundwell wrote.

Crundwell wrote, in part, "I am now 67 years old with several health 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."

Crundwell is serving her sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Pekin, IL. Her release date, according to the Bureau of Prisons, is Oct. 20, 2029.

On Wednesday, City Manager Danny Langloss sent TV6 a letter the city has sent to Warden Frederick Entzel objecting to an early release.

Read the letter in full:

Warden Entzel, The Dixon City Council, all 103 members of our city team, and our community stand united in strong opposition to the early release of Rita Crundwell. Rita has only served seven years of a 19-year, seven-month sentence for the theft of more than $53 million from the City of Dixon. This crime was not spur of the moment or made under duress. This crime was not precipitated by financial hardship depriving her of basic human needs. This was a premediated, carefully calculated plan fueled by greed and a desire for fame that was executed over a 20-year period. 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 multi-year pay freezes. Rita destroyed public trust and confidence and the reputations and careers of many dedicated public servants. Rita’s decades-long criminal endeavor still lingers over the Dixon community and its ever-present in the minds of our citizens. The damage she had done, both financially and psychologically, was and remains unpreceded. 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. She must pay her debt to society through the service of her full sentence. Sincerely, Danny D. Langloss, Jr. City Manager-City of Dixon

According to an amended federal statute, a defendant may file a motion with the court for a compassionate release after a “defendant 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 in her letter that she had filed a request for compassionate release with the prison warden.

In an order filed April 29, Reinhard wrote the federal defender’s office has been appointed to represent Crundwell in the matter and directed the office to file a supplement to her motion by May 15.

Prosecutors will then have until June 5 to file a response, according to the order.