Tom Negovan, WGN-TV, Chicago –
The comptroller of the northwest Illinois town of Dixon is accused of stealing $30 million dollars from tax payers.
Rita Crundwell, the town’s chief financial officer, accused of misappropriating about $30 million local tax dollars and spending the money on a lavish lifestyle.
Taxpayers in Dixon are angry not just because this happened but because they say local officials were warned.
Dixon is a town in which infrastructure is suffering, roads are in disrepair, and there’s no money to open the local swimming pool.
One candidate for mayor tried to blow the whistle about missing millions at city hall over a year ago.
“(We) went through about five or six years of audits on financial statements from the city and it just looked like it was a shell game,” said Bob Gibler, former mayoral candidate. “They just kept moving money around from fund to fund to fund, but you could never find out what that money was actually spent on.”
Crundwell is due back in court May 7.
