Ex-Dixon comptroller indicted in new case

A woman accused of misappropriating more than $53 million from Dixon now faces 60 counts of felony theft.

Grand jurors in Lee County on Thursday indicted 59-year-old former comptroller Rita Crundwell.

Each count accuses her of stealing more than $100,000 in government property and carries a possible punishment of up to 30 years in prison.

Before Thursday, Crundwell had faced just a single count of wire fraud in a federal case. She had pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say Crundwell siphoned the millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money into a secret bank account and used it to sustain a luxurious lifestyle as well as her nationally renowned horse-breeding operations.

Dixon is the boyhood home of the late President Ronald Reagan.