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More time to seek less time: Crundwell gets 2 more weeks to gather records in bid for early release

Daily Gazette - 5/16/2020

May 16--The federal defender appointed to represent former Dixon Comptroller Rita Crundwell in her bid for compassionate release from federal prison has at least 2 more weeks to come up with the documentation needed to support her request.

In his motion Wednesday seeking an extension beyond the Friday, May 15 deadline, Paul E. Gaziano told Judge Philip G. Reinhard that he needed more time to get the 67-year-old's medical records from the Bureau of Prisons.

The prosecution did not object, and Thursday, Reinhard gave Gaziano until May 29 to file the documentation.

Prosecutor Scott Paccagnini then will have until June 19 to respond to Crundwell's motion, and Gaziano will have until July 3 to make his counter argument.

Crundwell, perpetrator of the biggest municipal theft in the history of this country, is seeking to be released from prison because of multiple health issues that she says have put her in fear of her life should she contract COVID-19.

No cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Pekin federal prison, where she is housed.

She is asking to be released in the wake of Attorney General William Barr'sMarch 26 memo to the Bureau of Prisons, advising that inmates deemed high risk, based on Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 guidelines, be released to home confinement if they have a record of good behavior, if they pose no danger to the community, if their risk of recidivism is low, and if they have a place to go where they likely will be medically safer than prison.

Under federal statute, Crundwell first must seek "administrative relief" from Pekin federal prison Warden Frederick Entzel, which she did in a letter submitted April 22. Entzel has 30 days in which to either deny the request or make an appeal on her behalf; Friday is day 30.

If Entzel fails to make an appeal, which appears likely, Crundwell can motion the federal court for relief, which she is in the process of doing.

After reviewing her request and the information she provides to support it, if the judge determines there are "extraordinary and compelling reasons" to warrant it, he can reduce her sentence, with or without probation or supervised release.

Reinhard sentenced Crundwell on Feb. 14, 2013, to 17 years and 5 months for wire fraud. She stole close to $54 million over 20 years from her employer, the city of Dixon, where she had worked since high school, and used the money to create a horse-breeding empire and to maintain an opulent lifestyle far beyond the reach of most municipal employees.

"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 letter to Reinhard, filed April 27 in federal court in Rockford.

In it, Crundwell cites several reasons she believes she meets Barr's criteria for compassionate release. They include her age, 67; health issues; her status as model, minimum-security prisoner -- which already has shaved 5 months off her sentence -- and her re-entry plan, to live with her brother Richard Humphrey on his farm in Dixon.

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

To be released because of the virus, the BOP has said 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 2 years away from the half-way mark.

In her letter she cites "several" health issues, including chronic hypertension, high cholesterol, chronic pain from severe scoliosis, and a pinched sciatic nerve in her lower back, a hip replacement 3 years ago caused by arthritis, and damaged kidneys.

"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," she wrote.

Despite her claims, the city of Dixon is adamantly opposed to Crundwell serving even one minute less than the sentence she was dispensed.

"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," City Manager Danny Langloss wrote in a letter to the court, submitted this week.

"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 was chief of police when Crundwell was arrested at City Hall on April 17, 2012.

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