Feds Seize Crundwell Horse Show Awards, Trophies

Rita Crundwell must surrender her horse show awards, trophies, and other items to satisfy a restitution agreement.
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Convicted embezzler Rita Crundwell has been ordered to surrender all of her horse show awards, trophies, and other personal items to the federal government in order to satisfy a restitution agreement she made with the city of Dixon, Illinois.

In April 2012, a federal grand jury indicted Crundwell for misappropriating more than $53 million from Dixon, where she had served as comptroller since the 1980s. Federal law enforcement agents later charged her with one count of wire fraud.

Crundwell initially pleaded not guilty to the charge, but later changed her plea to guilty under a plea agreement. Under that agreement, Crundwell admitted to stealing funds from the city and using them to finance her Quarter Horse breeding business, horse show appearances, and other equestrian activities, and that she owed the city $53,740,394 in restitution. She was subsequently sentenced to serve 19 years and 7 months in federal prison.

While Crundwell was incarcerated, a federal judge placed the horses she’d forfeited in the custody of the U. S. Marshals Service. The horses, along with stallion semen, horse trailers a luxury motor home, real estate, furnishings, and other equipment, were later sold at auction. Federal prosecutors then filed a motion seeking the seizure of about 700 of Crundwell’s personal items, including several world show and breeder’s champion trophies, other awards, and horse show-related clothing including chaps, shirts, vests, breeches, pants, boots, and spurs. Crundwell’s lawyers argued that the items were worthless to anyone other than Crundwell and that they made no contribution to the restitution she owned to Dixon

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Written by:

Pat Raia is a veteran journalist who enjoys covering equine welfare, industry, and news. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her Tennessee Walking Horse, Sonny.

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