WEBVTT - Ridiculous Update: Rita Crundwell and Her Little Ponies 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:04.240 Ridiculous crime is a production of iHeartRadio, Elizabeth. 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:06.280 What are we doing here? We're supposed to be on vacation. 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:09.080 I never go on vacation. You never go on vacation. 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:11.720 I mean they closed the building down and we have 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.000 to do like we did this morning where we lock 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:15.640 pick break in. 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:18.119 You're welcome for that for Christmas, Thank you so much. 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:20.560 I think the lessons have been helping both of us. 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:22.560 But they keep us, they keep us out of here, 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:24.160 but not one hundred percent. 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:25.680 They can't keep us out, can't. 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:26.319 They really can't. 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:28.120 Well, the reason why I call it for this confab 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.760 and headquarters today. Yes, I don't tell producer Day were here. No, 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:35.360 I had a story update for you one I wanted 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:37.879 to share. You may remember the story about Rita Crunwell 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.520 ran back on July nineteenth, twenty twenty two. 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:41.720 Okay, you remember that name? 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:44.640 Yes, oh yeah, she was the comptroller for the small 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:48.640 town of Dixon in western Iloni. Right, she's the one 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.680 who embezzled millions of dollars from the coffers of her 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:54.400 little small town, innocent small town. And she's like a 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:58.160 hoover vacuum taking up cash right now, Why why would 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:00.960 she do this to her small town, well, Elizabeth, because 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:04.559 she could buy herself a mess, a mess of pretty 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:06.080 ponies and show horses. 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:08.560 Yeah, and she was just rotten to the core, totally. No. 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:11.240 It took her two plus decades of doing this, and 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:15.240 she stole fifty three million dollars from her. 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:17.880 Small So crazy for such a small town. 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:20.480 Right now, I don't want to give away the whole story, 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:22.399 but I'll tell you this. Eventually she gets busted, she 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.000 gets sent to prison. But Elizabeth, the reason I called 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.679 you into headquarters today is because outgoing President Joe Biden 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:32.360 has been horsing around with pardons and commutations for federal prisoners. 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:34.280 And you know what those are, right Well, yeah, pardons 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:35.480 are different from computatation. 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.080 To this commutation, you change the sentence. 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:40.640 Yeah, exactly. So, Rita, she gets a commutation, they basically 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:44.280 void her sentence. She's now seventy one years old. She's 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:46.560 already seen some kindness when it comes to this justice 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:49.480 because thanks to reduction in the number of federal prisoners 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.560 during COVID, Rita, she got sent home to finish her 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.680 sentence on house arrest. Chief petition for this, she got 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:57.440 an early release. They gave a toy, right, they sent 0:01:57.520 --> 0:01:59.760 her to her halfway house where she has been living, 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:01.680 and then like, well, you know, just send her all 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:03.720 the way home. So now she's all the way out. 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:05.360 And let me tell you, the folks in her hometown 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:10.400 at Dixon, they are picked. Dude, there's this one cat, 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:14.160 Danny Leglosa. He's the city manager of Dixon. He said, 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.040 and I quote, the city of Dixon is shocked and outraged. Now, 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:21.640 Leglosa added, and I once again quote, this is a 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:24.400 complete travesty of justice and a slap in the face 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:28.000 for our entire community. This dude, he was the police 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.120 chief when old Rita was bilking their hometown. Yeah, now 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:33.919 he's the city manager, so he's really protective of this place. 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:36.440 And it explains why he would say and I quote, 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.200 this definitely cuts the scar open. It's not a scab, 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:42.359 it's a scar. It's a deep one. At a time 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:45.360 when the federal government is the least trusted institution in 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:47.280 the country to do something like this. 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:49.280 Now, I also this. 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.720 Former cup he turned city manager. He described Rita. He 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:55.919 knows her obviously, so he called her a quote sociopath 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.240 who demonstrated no remorse, who destroyed the people that were 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:01.560 closest to her, not a feeling of guilt for what 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.639 she put our town through. He wasn't done, Elizabeth, because 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:08.560 you know, after eight years of being in jail, she 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:11.119 walks and he could. Well, he said, it's just not right. 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:15.120 Just the laziness to carte blanche commute, the sentence of 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.920 everyone or nearly everyone that was put on home detention 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:22.040 during COVID, not even giving consideration to the victims or 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:22.760 their crimes. 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:24.680 Man makes some points, right now. 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.360 You know, I'm not quite a prison abolitionist, but I'm 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:31.960 not looking to lock people up. So there's also the Okay, 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.440 the law enforcement community, they worked so hard to put 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:38.400 this homegirl away, right, they now describe what she is 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.720 doing as dancing in the streets of Dixon with their commutation. 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:45.520 That was the words of US Marshal Jason Wajdolo. Okay, 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:48.880 Now he said she quote conned the President of the 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:52.320 United States. Yeah, he was really pissed. Now I'll get 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:54.000 the last word. I'll give it to his current mayor, 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:57.640 Dixon Lee Ariano. Right, he called out the real world 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.160 costs of what Rita did. Her horse obsessed greed, right, 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.000 he said, and I quote, you can't steal fifty three 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:07.640 million dollars and it's non violent. It hurts your public safety. 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:10.240 We had an ambulance that smoked when it went down 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:14.600 the street, Elizabeth, this more Town ambulance Tupaca day has 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:16.880 it disgusting? All be goes of old Rita Crunwell and 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:19.880 heard my little ponies. Now let's sit back, relax, and 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:22.680 let's hear how Rita Crunwell did it all for the horse. 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:26.080 Let me just point out really quickly, this lady sucked 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:29.560 the public teat dry. She took the money. Why do 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:31.600 we still have to pay for her? If she's like 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:33.640 in her seventies and six, I don't want to I 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:38.000 don't want to give her four square you know, three squares? Yeah, 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:40.560 wherever you say it, you know what I mean. Like 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.680 I if she's just I don't know. I think she's 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:46.440 kind of been brought low. I can't imagine that she's 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:49.520 living high on the hogs. So I say I'm tired 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:50.160 of paying. 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.039 For Let's see her do some restitution on that fifty 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:53.520 three million. 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:55.040 Yeah exactly, just Michael. 0:04:55.040 --> 0:05:00.120 Anyway, whatever, this one is still criminally ridiculous, So enjoy 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.080 read the Crunwell and her little ponies. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:16.600 Elizabeth Dutton Zaren. Do you know what's ridiculous. Yeah, I'll 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:17.720 tell you what's ridiculous. 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:18.680 Oh, hit me with it. 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.880 Okay, when you don't want your car stolen, which is 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.240 not that's not ridiculous. No one wants her car stolen 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:26.520 unless you just need to get rid of it. Well, sure, 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:30.640 evidence wise, but let's say you don't trust the club, 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.599 you don't trust the locks or an alarm. Did you 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.320 know I think this is ridiculous. You can buy a 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:38.160 boot for your own car. 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:39.440 I think I know where you're going with. 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.159 This, Like it's not just a municipal thing. Did you 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.960 get some reason to one recently? Where did you see 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:48.159 in my neighbor's driveway? 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:50.400 What your neighbor boots his own car? 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:55.320 It boots his own car. And I have decided that's ridiculous, Yes, 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:56.800 I would agree and idiotic. 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:00.280 Why does he boot his own car because he had 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.400 a car stolen a couple of times? No, did he 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:05.480 have his like something else stolen. He's just kind of 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:09.320 like gunshy about this innocence I don't know, just snatched 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:10.800 from him and now he's like, not my truck. 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:13.200 I think maybe he shouldn't be living in the city. 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:17.599 Oh definite, Yeah, definitely. So wait, is he like somebody 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:22.080 from like rural small town America? Nope? Hmm what's his deal? 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:24.479 I don't know, but he's ridiculous. 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.440 I'll completely concur with that. Now I got one for you, Yes, 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:30.680 you're ready. This is a story. It's about a middle 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.840 aged woman. She's from rural, small town Illinois, and this 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:38.160 particular Midwestern woman she uh, she had a taste for 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.360 that sweet sweet horsey breeding life. Oh oh yeah. Now 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.040 to pay for her horse jones, she decided to dip 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.680 into the bank account not of her wealthy husband, not 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.960 of her family, but of her town, her hometown, and 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.560 she used the money that she could on the horses, 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:55.680 and she started diverting so much of the town's budget 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.960 that the town was almost going bankrupt. Oh he's a 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.000 perfect criminal. Since no one sees her coming. This is 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:05.279 the story of Rita Crundwell, the woman who got hooked 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.400 on horse. I'm sorry, the horses, woman who got hooked 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:31.640 on horses, those sweet, sweet ponies. This is Ridiculous Crime 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:36.400 a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists, and cons. 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:43.520 It's always ninety nine percent murder free and ridiculous. Today's 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:46.200 bizarre tale of small town crime takes place in the 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:49.440 American heartland. One of your favorite places, Elizabeth, America's heartland 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:54.800 is now this story of Rita Crundwell. It takes place 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:58.120 in a very specific part of rural small town America, 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:03.400 the Illinois of Dixon. Now, this is also famous for 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.840 a couple of things. Before Rita Crundwell, it was famous 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:08.720 as the hometown of the star of the Bedtime for 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:11.040 Bonzo series of movies would later become I believe a 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.880 politician Ronald Reagan that yeah, uh huh. And then Dixon, 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:19.360 Illinois is also the petunia capital of well, not the world, 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.600 but of Illinois. It's the petunia capital of Illinois, which 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:24.080 is you know, high praise for Illinois. 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:24.520 Oh yeah. 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:28.239 Also the catfish capital of Illinois once again of Illinois. 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.800 Very original fish. Not the practice of people not. 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:34.319 Like really good at like hooking up with like like foreigners, 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:35.320 getting them to come over here. 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.680 And be like, wait a minute, cat the bottom feeder. 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:42.240 Yeah, this is not like mante Teo's hometown. Now, our 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:47.439 second fun fact about Dixon is that Rita Crundwell lives there. 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:50.880 And she is the fifth most prolific embezzler of all. 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.800 Time, of all times, of all time. 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:56.760 Day, Elizabeth, has the FBI ever come to your home 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:58.319 or place of work and asked to speak with you? 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:03.800 Well, Elizabeth, no they haven't. They haven't asked to speak 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.319 with me. But one time when I worked at a 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:07.800 certain place, they came. 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:09.839 In, really, but not to talk to me. Did you 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:10.720 get to watch them operate? 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.559 Yeah? Well not really. They went into another office and 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.559 then everyone was terrified in our office and screaming around. 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:19.440 And I was like, well, we haven't done anything, wait 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:19.920 have we? 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.760 And then okay, well I've got a little fun visualization 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.839 for you. You're ready. This is the moment when the 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:27.839 FBI comes to your work and what that is? 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:28.000 Like? 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:30.000 You ready? I want you to close your eyes, yes, 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:34.439 I want you to picture it. It's a Tuesday morning 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:36.760 in April. It's early in the day, a little after 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.600 nine am. You're working at the Dixon City Hall. You're 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.439 a part time secretary, just typing away, doing your thing. 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:45.800 It's how Rita started at city Hall. And you spot 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.079 these three FBI agents. They push open the double doors, 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.120 streaming in sunlight behind them. The noises of the day 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:56.199 on Main Street Dixon. All come pouring in, these FBI agents. 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:58.920 They stride in with purpose and they're looking past you. 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:01.599 You're like, but no, oh, I greet people. They're like, no, 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:04.280 we know where we're going. They go marching up the stairs. 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:05.960 You go to follow to see if they need help, 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:07.680 trying to get to wherever it is that they're going. 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:10.600 And as you're going up the marble steps, you can 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:12.839 see them make the turn and start heading towards the 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.360 Mayor's office. You're like, okay, I know where they're going, 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:19.079 so you trail behind them. You follow them all the 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:20.959 way down the hallway. They get to the Mayor's office. 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:23.439 Mayor Jim Burke is in his office that morning. This 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.480 is a point of fact because he's a part time mayor. 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:29.800 He's not always in the office. This morning he is. 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:33.040 He's very common now, full time real estate agent, part 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.760 time mayor. Jim Burke is a good hearted guy and so, 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.760 you know, kind self effacing, kind of Midwestern guy, Big 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.240 Jim Burke, Big Jim Burke, and with the FBI agents 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:43.920 come in, he's really friendly, nice to them, and you're 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:48.000 right on the FBI's six right you're watching past them 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.000 into Mayor Jim Burke's office because you want to see 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:51.120 what all this hullabaloo is about. 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.680 Oh, hella, I figured you were in real life. 0:10:54.800 --> 0:11:00.240 Yes, And so as Mayor Jim Burke is greeting the 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.439 FBI agents, you notice he doesn't look scared, fright and 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.120 intimidated nothing. He's cool as a cucumber and a bowl 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.680 of hot sucks because my man Sci would say, yeah. 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:10.599 And Big Jim is sitting there and he's like, you know, 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.920 I basically called you into the office. It seems he's 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:16.280 got that demeanor like he invited the FBI. And know 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.240 why would he invite the FBI? You're wondering, Well, the 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:20.480 FBI agents they don't say anything at first, they just 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:24.040 keep doing their business. And uh, you don't know this, 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.240 but you're about to find out that the FBI has 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.360 been working with Mayor Jim Burke to bust one of 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.240 the employees in city Hall and today is the day. 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.000 For the silver bracelets to be slapped on their wrist. Wow. 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.520 Mayor Jim Burke's face starts to lighten a little bit. 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:39.680 He looks at the FBI guys. You're like, what's going 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.439 on a moment? The excitement is just rippling through you. 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:43.920 And all of a sudden, Mayor Burke says to the 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.079 three FBI agents, are we ready? You're like, oh, it's 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:50.400 going down the one. The FBI guys replies, yes, let's 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:53.439 bring her in. Mayor Burke picks up his telephone. He 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:55.959 dials an extension in city Hall. People Bob bo bo bob, 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.920 and then he waits, puts the phone on speaker mode. 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:01.599 You can hear the down the hall ringing. You're like, 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:03.360 did you call someone in the office. You hear a 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:06.959 woman's voice at the other end. Hello, She's got a nice, sunny, 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:11.200 you know, springtimey voice. Mayor Burke, very serious, very solemn, 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:14.199 says Rita, would you mind stepping into my office for 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:16.400 a minute. Rita replies sure. 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:17.679 Now. 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:20.640 A moment later, her office door opens. You hear it, 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:23.680 and also then you hear footsteps clean She's going down 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:27.360 the hallway, the marble steps, her heels, they get louder, 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:31.079 she gets closer. You're so anticipatory, you just cannot wait 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:33.000 for the moment what is going to be happening. Rita 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.400 pokes her head in the doorway that you're standing there 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:37.959 in the doorway with her. Now she squeezes and she 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:41.960 says hi, and everyone turns a three. FBI engagent's turn. 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:44.360 Mayor Jim Burke turns. You just kind of just glance 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:46.079 over at her because she's standing there right next to you. 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.520 The FBI agents say, Rita, would you mind coming in? 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:54.160 Mayor Burke reiterates, Rita, would you please mind stepping into 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:58.120 my office? The lead FBI says, Hi, I'm with the FBI. 0:12:58.640 --> 0:12:59.800 That moment has come. 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.160 You're like, oh, it's going down now. 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.800 He flashes his badge. Rita looks at it, and her 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:08.280 face starts to break a little. She knows it's over 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:12.200 her decades of lies, the fraud, the embezzlement, the scams, 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:14.520 the cons all of it are coming crashing down. But 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:16.960 yet her face doesn't fully show it. Just the hint 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.160 of it is in her eyes. The lead FBI guy continues, Rita, 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:22.960 we'd like to ask you some questions. Mayor Burke stares 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:27.400 at Rita. Meanwhile, Rita's face still hasn't changed. It's just placid, 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:29.800 and you're like, how is she doing this? She just 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:33.439 keeps smiling. It just the small pert smile breaks on 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.920 her face. It's almost midwestern and polite, super eerie, and 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:40.120 then the FBI agent slapped the cuffs on her and 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:42.880 they say she won't talk. They're taking into the office. 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.800 They leave city Hall, they purp walk her out. Everybody 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:49.000 is a gas They're all looking, Oh my goodness, it's Rita, Rita. 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:52.400 I can't believe it's Rita. That moment was the moment 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:55.160 when Mayor Jim Burke finally realize what we will call 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.720 the Tao of Rita Crundwell, now what is the tao 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.760 of Rita Crunwell? Well as it goes, he said, and 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.319 I quote, it showed me she didn't give a about 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:08.920 our town. Oh yeah, So how much did Rita exactly 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.560 not give about the town of Dixon, Illinois? 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:14.280 Tell me, can you guess? No, try the tune of 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:18.280 fifty three million dollars? Fifty three million dollars fifty three 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.400 million dollars. How did the town have that much money 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:21.960 to begin with? 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.360 Well, that was over multiple years. She was just basically 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:29.080 siphoning off cash to pay for her horses, year after 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.800 year after year after year from this small little town 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.200 until she'd taken fifty three million dollars in The FBI 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.840 showed up and said we'd like to talk to Rita. 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:38.880 Can I tell you how excited I am that they 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.120 didn't kick me out when they started doing this whole Rita, 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:43.560 we need to talk to you. They just let me 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:44.880 stand in the doorway. I like that. 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:46.360 I knew you'd like to kind of just watch that 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:49.560 same out. Yeah, the FBI is very generous, you know, 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:50.720 in small. 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:54.000 Town America, and they sent the FBI comes. It's not 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:56.280 like state police or anything. So this is big time. 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:58.200 Yeah, they didn't bring the US marshals to grab her. 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:00.800 They wanted to talk with her and then to Couffer. 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.520 So coincidentally, that fifty three million I just told you, 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:07.880 that's the exact same amount that Kanye West was in 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:11.960 bankruptcy for in twenty sixteen. Oh, he's now almost a billionaire. 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:13.920 If he's not already a billionaire, I don't know who cares. 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:17.160 But the point is is that's a sizable chunk of money. 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:19.120 It's enough to turn you into a billionaire, and in 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:22.160 this case, it was enough to pretty much bankrupt her hometown. Wow. 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:25.920 Now let's say you stole fifty three million dollars, Elizabeth, 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:27.760 so we say it together. 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:30.680 You still fifty three million million dollars. 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:34.440 Elizabeth, Okay, oh good, Now you didn't donate any of it. 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:36.240 You just had to spend all of it on yourself 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.400 or stuff or whatever gifts. I don't care. What would 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:41.720 you spend fifty three million, No, I'll limit it. What 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:44.160 animal would you spend fifty three million dollars on? 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:45.480 Oh? Dogs? Hello? 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:45.960 Dog? 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:48.240 Really you wouldn't go like big like peacocks or bears, 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:50.760 or I would have a standing dog army that would 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:54.040 be completely pampered. Okay, yeah, it would be wild. 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:55.840 What would you do with your dog army? I mean, 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:57.600 you got enough money to pamper them, so, like, how 0:15:57.600 --> 0:15:58.560 are you going to pamper. 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:01.720 Them various acts of vengeance? No? I would would you 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:06.800 have for them? Everyone gets their own bed so they 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:08.800 don't all try and sleep on my bed. Okay, They 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:12.640 get the finest of foods and table scraps. Okay, I 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:14.840 don't know, buy like a bunch of acres and build 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:15.760 my own dog parks. 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:17.320 Like would you travel with them? Would you get like 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:19.640 maybe like a very large trailer and a truck and 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:22.040 you take them on a road trip around the country. 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:24.840 With all their heads outside of exactly sunglasses on all 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:27.000 of them. Oh, my god, I would get the nicest 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.560 sunglasses for all the dogs. Everybody gets a pair of 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:31.840 custom ray bands. 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:33.360 Very nice, very nice. 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:33.960 Good. 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:36.640 You're starting to now get what Rita Crundwell was about. 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:38.920 Oh was she about that rude dude life. 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:43.320 No, unfortunately she was just about that rude life. Now, 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:45.720 after the short break, it's time to meet the star 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.600 of our story, the embezzler extraordinariy Rita Crundwell. 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:09.480 Elizabeth M. 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:13.200 You used to live in a small town, you told me. Yeah, 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:15.680 the small town that we don't have to name it. 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.080 But living in a small town, you know what it's like. 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.239 Were there any any liars in your town? Anybody who 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:23.200 got busted for a lie? Maybe it was like a 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:25.240 divorce that all of a sudden came to light, a 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:26.359 scandal with money. 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.280 Was anything like that? Of course, human beings live there. Well, yes, 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:29.639 I know, but. 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.480 I'm saying, but in small towns, it's it's less likely 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.159 that a secret emerges because people know the secret. It 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:36.920 kind of gets whispered about, you know what I mean, Like, 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:38.959 it doesn't just get broken in the news. It's more 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:40.720 like people knew about it and then it's like the 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:43.439 news confirmed. Yeah, but that's about accurate. 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:45.600 I think, yeah, there are secrets that that are sort 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:49.120 of known secrets. Everyone's in on it. But then sometimes 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:50.040 you gets surprised. 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:54.240 They're gonna be like the violent secrets, the marital secrets, 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.119 the money secrets. But oftentimes there's the whisper networks of 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:59.919 small towns that are totally very different than big cities, right, right, 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:02.879 can't be anonymous, right exactly. Keep that in mind as 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:05.359 I tell you how Rita Crundwell pulled off her fifty 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:06.880 three million dollars theft. 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:09.440 Of all of her How many people lived in this Dixon, Illinois. 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.960 Sixteen thousand people? All right, yeah, that's pretty small, Yeah, 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:16.040 pretty small. Well, that's big compared to where I was living. 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:19.840 Oh really yeah, thirteen hundred people, Oh my god, sixteen 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:21.879 thousand would be that's the big city. 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:24.840 I going into the big city to get your checks cash. 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:28.879 Oh, that's where like Starbucks is forty five minutes away. Yeah, anyway, 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:31.880 so I think that's yeah, in the grand scheme of things, 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:34.200 practic pretty small town. 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:39.080 Well getting to Dixon, Illinois, Rita Crunwell's hometown. Rita was 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:41.680 one of six Crundwell kids. She grew up on the 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.880 family farm. She was the type of teen who wore 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.600 cowboy boots. She drove a beat up pickup truck. She 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.000 was into four ah. She raised livestock, she competed in 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:52.920 livestock shows, and she showed up in the lyrics. I 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:55.879 think one or two John Cougar Mellencamp songs. 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:58.680 That's gonna say. She sounds like a character in a 0:18:58.760 --> 0:18:59.960 New Country lyric. 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:02.560 Yes, she's like Trayce Adkins, ideal girl. 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:06.040 Drinking from a red solo cub, sitting in the pickup. 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.320 Saying how much hey means to her? That reminds me 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.280 of home. Now, Rita cronwells So, she was also a 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:14.800 smart girl. She was a National Honor Society member. She 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:16.760 was a popular girl, the kind of kid who gets 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.119 nominated or elected. I don't know how it goes, but 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:20.800 to her high school's homecoming court. 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:22.200 Yeah, I don't know how that works. 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:24.760 Yeah, I think it's elected. I don't know anyway. Rita 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:28.239 Cronwell all American upbringing. Just keep that in mind. Now, 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:30.119 one of the facts I just told you above is 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:32.920 not true. I'll let you guess which one. Oh, John Cougar, 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:37.119 mellencap Okay, So, Rita our former honor student. Girl with 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:39.879 the big glasses, brown hair. Four it's kid cowboy boots 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:41.200 got in your mind. Okay. 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:43.480 She goes to work at the city hall thanks to 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:46.119 her high school's work study program. So she's like a. 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:49.560 Junior at the time. This is nineteen seventy okay, Okay, 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.600 So in nineteen seventy one, she graduates and then she 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:55.280 takes a job, full time job at city hall. It's 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:57.520 like it's a good job all town. So she's like, 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:01.200 I'm keeping it around. That same time, Mayor he creates 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:05.280 this new position called the town's comptroller. And the comptrollers 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:07.920 you were familiar is, handles the money. They're a little 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:09.960 bit different than say the treasurer. They are in charge 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:11.880 of like writing the checks, making sure that the check 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:12.600 book is balanced. 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:12.920 Yeah. 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.960 So this person is important in the town to Dixon because, 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.800 as I said earlier, Mayor Jim Burke part time mayor, 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:22.840 city council, and city council members. Rather there's four of them. 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:26.200 They're also all part time, so the city relies on 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.120 some full time employees to handle city business. So Rita 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:32.640 Cronwell joins this full time quatier of city hall employees 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:35.359 and eventually she works her way up to treasurer and 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:39.280 then from treasurer to comptroller. So it takes her about 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:42.320 thirteen years. So now we're in nineteen eighty three, we're 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:44.680 into the Reagan years of America. There is a new 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.840 feeling about rural America. There's a new optimism coming out 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:50.240 of the seventies and inflation. So people are they're having 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.920 a little bit of a not a go go American moment, 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:56.360 but the rural America is feeling better about themselves. 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:56.560 Right. 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:59.240 Rita takes that moment says, I'm feeling better about myself 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:03.560 too now, Quicker than you can say Kevin Bacon and footloose. 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:07.119 Rita Crundwell starts angling for how she can make her 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:09.280 new appointment work for her. Takes her a little bit 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:12.920 of time, about seven years. About at that time, she's like, 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:15.440 I think I got to handle how I'm gonna scam 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:18.480 this town. Now. Rita, she's really good with numbers, Like 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:21.560 that's part of her bag is that she's exacting. She's 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.719 detail oriented, and everybody knows this about her. It's it's 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:27.159 her rep right. The mayor at the time of her 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.680 arrest said, quote, Rita was very efficient, very pleasant, she 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:32.760 got along with everyone, and she knew the job in 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:36.240 and out. She seemed like a perfect fit. Yeah. Right, 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:38.600 so that's her general mo o that everybody's reacting to. 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:39.160 Yeah. 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:43.480 Now, meanwhile, Rita is acting like a Banana Republic dictator. 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:46.280 She decides to take total control of city Hall, which 0:21:46.320 --> 0:21:49.080 in this case means the flow of information. She has 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:51.840 all of the paperwork that she deals with routed to 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:54.000 a PO box so nobody can see the mail that 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:57.880 is coming to her. Nope, the address that you normally 0:21:57.880 --> 0:21:59.600 would think of her where the mail would go city hall. 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:01.639 The whole reason why you have a city hall was 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:03.640 a building for business of city hall to We've be done, 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:05.720 She's like, no, send that to my PO box. I'll 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:07.159 do it at home. I'm a work from home kind 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:09.919 of gown. This is like way before I work at home. 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:12.119 Yeah. She's like, I'm a workaholic and this way I 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:14.639 can work on the weekends. And I see you read it. 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:15.720 Yeah, you say you're onto it. 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:16.280 Yeah. 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:18.840 Apparently in her small town everyone else was like, no, 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:20.320 she's just so good at her work. 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:22.760 Well, and one of the things that I noticed living 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:25.320 in a small town is that you are sort of 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:30.359 locked into your public persona when you're in high school, 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:34.320 and so whoever you are in high school tends to 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:36.800 follow you through. And so if you were like the 0:22:36.880 --> 0:22:39.280 handsome quarterback and then you just kind of keep screwing 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:41.240 up later people are you know, but he was the 0:22:41.280 --> 0:22:44.920 handsome quarterback or the state, you're the weird outsider. It's 0:22:45.000 --> 0:22:48.480 hard to then change. And so she's like she it's 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:51.560 hard to reinvent yourself, whereas like where I'm you know, 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:55.800 born and raised California, that's like a pastime, right, mustant 0:22:55.840 --> 0:22:58.640 reinvention completely, but you're not. Really it's hard. It's hard 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:00.760 in a small town. So I can see Rita if 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:02.800 she just locks herself in in high school is like 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:06.879 National Honor Society, doing work study, riding around in a 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:09.960 pickup truck whatever, like doing all the right things for 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:12.240 each everyone's gonna see her like that. 0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:15.320 Never they never took a second glance. You're so right 0:23:15.320 --> 0:23:17.480 about that. She apparently locked in and then she used that. 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:19.280 I think she was aware of it, like you are 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:23.240 that like this is all they see. So the meanwhile, 0:23:23.440 --> 0:23:26.119 Rita is like basically doing exactly what you're saying, is 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:31.080 creating this persona that is impeccable and implacable in terms 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:34.359 of like everybody thinks they know Rita, they have no 0:23:34.520 --> 0:23:35.320 idea who Rita is. 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:39.240 Yeah, right, So, like, for instance, to advance. 0:23:38.880 --> 0:23:42.280 Her idea of her being really frugal and meticulous about money, 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:45.040 she always deducts money from her own salary for any 0:23:45.119 --> 0:23:47.560 day of work that she misses. Right now, what this 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:52.280 means is if like she's out of office for like 0:23:52.720 --> 0:23:54.840 a week for to go to a horse show, We'll 0:23:54.880 --> 0:23:57.960 say she deducts that from her pay, and that balanced 0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:00.480 out that one year. She makes about eighty three thousand 0:24:00.480 --> 0:24:03.560 dollars a year, so she one year only made sixty 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:05.920 one thousand dollars because she took twenty two thousand dollars 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:08.480 off of her salary. So that way it would look like, 0:24:08.680 --> 0:24:09.399 you know, well. 0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:12.880 Did she not get vacation time or beyond? I think 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:15.080 she may have used up her page. Oh so she's 0:24:15.200 --> 0:24:18.760 just above board, like yeah, look I'm taking leave without pay. 0:24:19.560 --> 0:24:21.000 You wh she go do horse. 0:24:20.800 --> 0:24:23.399 Stuff, horses shows and like travel. People don't know, they 0:24:23.440 --> 0:24:24.040 just know that she leaves. 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:26.360 Wait a second, So she makes eighty g's a year 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:29.760 and she took off twenty that's like a quarter of 0:24:29.840 --> 0:24:31.200 the time, she's not even there. 0:24:31.480 --> 0:24:32.000 I do math. 0:24:32.119 --> 0:24:35.600 Yes, they look at you a second semoke coming out 0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:36.080 of my ears. 0:24:36.160 --> 0:24:38.440 I was worried something caught fire. But yeah, nice work. 0:24:38.720 --> 0:24:41.640 Like that's like half half of her time. 0:24:42.600 --> 0:24:45.960 So they weren't doing this math. The local townspeople they're 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:47.520 just so happy and they figured Rito was so good 0:24:47.520 --> 0:24:50.920 at a job. Meanwhile, that same time, when she's out sick, 0:24:51.080 --> 0:24:54.240 she has like a family member go to her po 0:24:54.320 --> 0:24:56.159 box and pick up her work to make sure that 0:24:56.200 --> 0:24:57.159 nobody ever sees it. 0:24:57.320 --> 0:25:01.359 Maybe they're using like the metric that I all jobs 0:25:01.400 --> 0:25:04.719 would do is like forget the eight hours a day, 0:25:04.800 --> 0:25:07.680 forty hour week. However, if you get your work done, 0:25:08.280 --> 0:25:09.680 then fine, you get paid. 0:25:09.880 --> 0:25:11.240 Yeah, I'm with you. That should be the stand. 0:25:11.320 --> 0:25:14.120 So let's be honest, like a quarter of our time 0:25:14.359 --> 0:25:18.760 is you know, busy work, messing her doing I don't know, 0:25:19.040 --> 0:25:23.040 crypto quip so yeah, for instance, for instance, I don't know, 0:25:23.200 --> 0:25:25.080 just you know, spitball in here, but I think you 0:25:25.160 --> 0:25:29.160 know she's she's laying out something now, she's doing nefarious things. 0:25:29.240 --> 0:25:32.000 But if we're all honest with ourselves, yeah, we could 0:25:32.040 --> 0:25:33.760 get all of our work done in three quarters of 0:25:33.800 --> 0:25:34.040 the time. 0:25:34.200 --> 0:25:36.119 She went way past I'm going to make the biggest 0:25:36.160 --> 0:25:39.000 ball of rubber bands I can. But I see your point, 0:25:39.040 --> 0:25:41.480 which is basically, you know, people should be able to 0:25:41.560 --> 0:25:43.640 work as much as their work is required of right, 0:25:43.760 --> 0:25:45.760 and not try to fill in some arbitrary oh you 0:25:45.800 --> 0:25:47.200 got to be here on the clock kind of stuff 0:25:47.280 --> 0:25:49.320 exactly completely, And Rita would agree with you. 0:25:49.680 --> 0:25:50.960 No, I don't like that. 0:25:51.640 --> 0:25:53.560 I know you don't want Tor on your side. In 0:25:53.720 --> 0:25:57.720 nineteen ninety, Rita creates her fake dummy bank account and 0:25:57.840 --> 0:26:03.240 goes into business of Rita. She starts sidelining money and 0:26:03.440 --> 0:26:07.280 creating like well what will soon become a vast empire 0:26:07.320 --> 0:26:09.560 in fortune in the horse world. And the way she 0:26:09.680 --> 0:26:12.480 did it is she started a city account but in 0:26:12.600 --> 0:26:15.720 her name, okay, So that way she's the only signatory 0:26:15.800 --> 0:26:18.040 on the account. But as far as the bank is concerned, 0:26:18.080 --> 0:26:19.320 it's doing city business. 0:26:19.560 --> 0:26:21.800 So it's like City of Dixon. 0:26:21.760 --> 0:26:28.120 Exactly, okay, and with signatory Rita, Rita crime. So that's 0:26:28.119 --> 0:26:30.280 how she starts some in buzzle funds. And she likes it. 0:26:30.400 --> 0:26:32.800 She's into it, right, she gets after it. 0:26:32.920 --> 0:26:35.399 She's like a I don't know, a colonist in the 0:26:35.440 --> 0:26:37.560 New World She's like, Oh, look at all this value 0:26:37.720 --> 0:26:41.880 just lying around here. So her plan works because one 0:26:42.160 --> 0:26:45.119 there is this constant influx of new city leaders. Right 0:26:45.200 --> 0:26:47.280 the city council member and new mayor comes in. She 0:26:47.440 --> 0:26:49.400 teaches them the books, this is how the city works, 0:26:49.440 --> 0:26:51.000 this is what I do. So she teaches them her 0:26:51.119 --> 0:26:54.320 cooked books method. When the city auditors come in, because 0:26:54.440 --> 0:26:57.000 she was smart about this, starting about somewhere in the 0:26:57.000 --> 0:27:00.640 mid eighties, she started basically faking the records. Nineteen ninety 0:27:00.680 --> 0:27:03.520 when she creates her false account and starts diverting funds. 0:27:03.760 --> 0:27:06.440 By that point she has all these records that are fake. 0:27:06.560 --> 0:27:09.680 So the auditors looking back seven years they have a 0:27:09.800 --> 0:27:12.760 false record. They don't yeah, so they can't see it either. 0:27:13.119 --> 0:27:15.920 The local town is you know, they're the banks that 0:27:15.960 --> 0:27:17.680 are supposed to be in charge of the accounts that 0:27:17.760 --> 0:27:19.920 they keep getting bought up by national banks, so that 0:27:20.200 --> 0:27:22.520 there no longer is that nosy bank manager who's paying 0:27:22.520 --> 0:27:24.840 attention to how often Rita is coming in in diverting funds. 0:27:24.880 --> 0:27:28.119 She's just sitting at home clicking buttons now and Dundale. 0:27:28.520 --> 0:27:32.000 So there's no oversight either officially by the money cops. 0:27:32.040 --> 0:27:34.359 There's no oversight by the bank managers, and there's no 0:27:34.440 --> 0:27:35.560 oversight by her bosses. 0:27:35.960 --> 0:27:37.840 Wow right, yes, exactly. 0:27:38.400 --> 0:27:40.840 So at this point, the only thing that's holding it 0:27:40.920 --> 0:27:43.680 together is that everybody, as I keep pointing out, is 0:27:43.760 --> 0:27:46.119 so convinced that Rita is just so darn good at 0:27:46.160 --> 0:27:49.880 her job rights. And I'll quote Mayor Jim Burke again, 0:27:50.840 --> 0:27:53.399 he was just like enamored as mayor. He didn't have 0:27:53.440 --> 0:27:55.560 to work very hard because if he needed anything done, 0:27:55.600 --> 0:27:57.639 he just went to Rita. She knew right where it was, 0:27:57.960 --> 0:28:00.840 so quote I could go unto her and say, Rita, 0:28:01.040 --> 0:28:03.600 do you have a copy of the cable TV contract 0:28:03.680 --> 0:28:06.520 from nineteen eighty six? And she'd go right to a 0:28:06.600 --> 0:28:09.440 drawer and pull it out. How did you argue with that? 0:28:10.000 --> 0:28:12.560 I trust her with the nuclear code exactly. 0:28:13.280 --> 0:28:16.200 So, just you know, imagine poor Jim burk surprise when 0:28:16.200 --> 0:28:18.399 the FBI showed up a city hall for Rita. 0:28:18.960 --> 0:28:20.800 But of course he did know at that point. Well 0:28:20.840 --> 0:28:27.600 wait a second, so what if everything is getting not everything, 0:28:27.640 --> 0:28:31.040 but if she's diverting significant funds, is the town up 0:28:31.119 --> 0:28:34.879 and running? Well, I mean, oh no, not at all. 0:28:35.600 --> 0:28:38.200 Like that's the thing is so like they couldn't afford 0:28:38.360 --> 0:28:41.120 to repair the cemetery like they had problems with their cemetery. 0:28:41.200 --> 0:28:43.960 Their streets were going bad, the street lights weren't working. 0:28:44.040 --> 0:28:47.840 They couldn't get uniforms and radar guns for the cops. 0:28:48.320 --> 0:28:50.520 They had basketball courts at all broken ups. The kids 0:28:50.560 --> 0:28:52.840 can't play on them. They had to go without city 0:28:53.160 --> 0:28:56.320 jobs or pay increases for years. It was bad. 0:28:56.920 --> 0:28:59.680 But Rita knows where the cable contract is exactly. 0:29:00.720 --> 0:29:02.400 As long as you find that, What does mayor Jim 0:29:02.440 --> 0:29:04.000 Burke's really care about the rest of day? 0:29:04.320 --> 0:29:04.840 Goodness? 0:29:05.400 --> 0:29:07.320 No, but I just like to focus on Rita for 0:29:07.440 --> 0:29:10.920 a second. Can you imagine being her like lying to 0:29:11.400 --> 0:29:14.480 everyone you know, everyone you grew up with, everyone you 0:29:14.560 --> 0:29:17.320 work with every day of your life for decades, and 0:29:17.480 --> 0:29:20.520 just creating this larger and larger divide between you and 0:29:20.840 --> 0:29:22.880 who people think you are and who they're giving you 0:29:22.960 --> 0:29:24.760 credit for you. You're not Rita Crundwell anymore. 0:29:25.000 --> 0:29:27.320 No, And she must have the lowest opinion of every 0:29:27.400 --> 0:29:31.160 other human being to r No, she's sociopathic or is 0:29:31.240 --> 0:29:32.840 she just something else? 0:29:33.120 --> 0:29:34.480 And I don't mean to do a diagnose her. 0:29:34.520 --> 0:29:36.880 I'm I don't know, I don't know. I'm sure she's 0:29:36.920 --> 0:29:39.920 got a whole host of issues. I'm wondering just about 0:29:40.160 --> 0:29:43.560 what happened to her. Rita who hurts you, I know, right. 0:29:43.800 --> 0:29:45.920 So the thing that we do know is that Rita 0:29:46.600 --> 0:29:49.520 did it for one for the glamour. Oh we know 0:29:49.600 --> 0:29:52.080 what her motivation was other than the horses. It wasn't 0:29:52.120 --> 0:29:54.680 just the horses. It was also Rita elects, the diamonds, 0:29:54.800 --> 0:29:57.320 the fur, the bright lights of the big city. And 0:29:57.360 --> 0:29:59.680 in this case, the big city is Oklahoma City. Well 0:29:59.760 --> 0:30:02.720 it's a big city, sure, Okay, yeah, I mean like, yeah, 0:30:02.760 --> 0:30:04.360 it is a big city if you're from Dickson, Illinois. 0:30:04.960 --> 0:30:07.160 I'm just saying it's not like, oh, she's out in Manhattan. 0:30:07.200 --> 0:30:08.520 I mean, I'm not trying to say it. Every city 0:30:08.560 --> 0:30:10.080 has to be measured against New York. But there are 0:30:10.080 --> 0:30:11.320 a lot of big cities in this world. And I 0:30:11.320 --> 0:30:14.640 will put Oklahoma City up. Oklahoma, I like that about you. 0:30:15.120 --> 0:30:16.720 My apologies, Oklahoma. 0:30:16.320 --> 0:30:17.320 City, well Arts District. 0:30:17.440 --> 0:30:20.440 Oh No, I like the city. I'm not like saying 0:30:20.440 --> 0:30:23.320 anything bad. I just wouldn't say that it's a big 0:30:23.480 --> 0:30:26.520 city in America, you know, like Houston. Houston's a big 0:30:26.560 --> 0:30:29.640 city in America. The Oklahoma City, I mean a big heart. Yes, 0:30:30.080 --> 0:30:34.360 it is a beautiful city with a big heart. The 0:30:34.760 --> 0:30:38.640 American quarter Horse Association's World Championship Show. It happens to 0:30:38.720 --> 0:30:40.400 be in Oklahoma City every year. 0:30:40.640 --> 0:30:42.880 What do you know? Yeah, and uh, that place is. 0:30:43.440 --> 0:30:45.800 I don't know if you've ever been to the American 0:30:45.880 --> 0:30:48.080 quarter Horse Association World Championship Show. 0:30:48.440 --> 0:30:50.040 But I missed it. 0:30:50.160 --> 0:30:52.240 Oh then I don't need to tell you. But just 0:30:52.280 --> 0:30:55.320 for my own edification, I'll remind you that it is 0:30:55.480 --> 0:30:59.000 possibly one of the largest collections of humans you know 0:30:59.200 --> 0:31:01.480 that takes place on the North American continent. Bigger than 0:31:01.520 --> 0:31:04.560 Democratic national conventions, better than the Republican National Convention. It's 0:31:04.560 --> 0:31:06.800 bigger than the Super Bowl. It's hundreds of thousands of 0:31:06.840 --> 0:31:10.200 people coming into Oklahoma City just talking horses, walking horses, 0:31:10.240 --> 0:31:13.480 looking at horses, just being all about horse life for days. 0:31:14.160 --> 0:31:19.040 Yeah whatever, Yeah, that horsey life, horse horse life. So 0:31:19.240 --> 0:31:21.080 like the type of people that you would see in town, 0:31:21.120 --> 0:31:25.280 Oklahoma City during the quarter Horse Association World Championship Show. 0:31:25.480 --> 0:31:29.240 People like Harrison Ford, Kevin Costner, Robert Redford, Lyle love it. 0:31:29.640 --> 0:31:31.520 So all those celebrities that you can think of is 0:31:31.520 --> 0:31:34.560 like I can imagine him with a horse. The horsey set, 0:31:34.680 --> 0:31:36.760 the horsey set people are down for that horse life. Yeah, 0:31:37.040 --> 0:31:39.560 so Rita crunwell, she would like to go and do 0:31:39.600 --> 0:31:42.240 Oklahoma City. And whenever she would go, she would show 0:31:42.440 --> 0:31:48.360 out for bikinis. Not that kind of show out, but 0:31:48.440 --> 0:31:50.120 but she would put a show on a show. I'll 0:31:50.160 --> 0:31:52.960 just leave it at that. So the floor of the arena, 0:31:53.000 --> 0:31:57.120 because just imagine like a giant like basketball stadium or 0:31:57.160 --> 0:31:59.720 football indorse, football stadium, right, So on the floor of 0:31:59.760 --> 0:32:03.760 that stadium you would have convention stalls and booze, and 0:32:04.000 --> 0:32:06.200 Rita would down be down there with everybody else. But 0:32:06.280 --> 0:32:08.160 instead of having like a table on the stall, she 0:32:08.240 --> 0:32:11.760 would have, for instance, a log cabin recreated for the event. Wait, 0:32:12.480 --> 0:32:14.440 an entire an entire log cabin. 0:32:14.640 --> 0:32:17.360 It's like, hey, look, dude, was Abraham Lincoln born there? 0:32:17.440 --> 0:32:18.240 What's going on here? 0:32:18.680 --> 0:32:21.480 Now? That was just the entrance to her section. Once 0:32:21.520 --> 0:32:24.720 you stepped inside the recreation log cabin, you'd be greeted 0:32:24.800 --> 0:32:26.920 by the sight of the glitter and the shine of 0:32:27.000 --> 0:32:29.840 her trophy room she had. You had to walk past 0:32:29.920 --> 0:32:31.280 all of her trophies. 0:32:31.080 --> 0:32:31.920 Like a pageant kid. 0:32:32.040 --> 0:32:34.880 Yeah, exactly, like total pagan kid. And she had like 0:32:35.000 --> 0:32:37.760 that love of like I don't know, ribbons, that whatever, 0:32:37.800 --> 0:32:40.600 it is that motivates the passion for ribbons. She wanted 0:32:40.680 --> 0:32:43.640 everyone to see her ribbon collection gold plastic. Yeah exactly. 0:32:43.800 --> 0:32:45.480 She's like, look at this, this is etched, has my 0:32:45.600 --> 0:32:49.400 name on it. It's magical. So after the gleam of 0:32:49.440 --> 0:32:52.040 her trophy room wears off and you wander further into 0:32:52.120 --> 0:32:56.040 the recreated log cabin, then you meet the full open 0:32:56.120 --> 0:32:58.600 bar that she has arrayed for her guests, and there 0:32:58.680 --> 0:33:01.880 you could grab a cocktail, all courtesy of Rita Crunwell. 0:33:02.240 --> 0:33:04.120 And now I like to imagine, you know, one of 0:33:04.200 --> 0:33:07.239 this Horsey set sitting in that recreated log cabin with her. 0:33:07.560 --> 0:33:10.000 Let's say Harrison Ford, all right, and he's like raising 0:33:10.040 --> 0:33:12.880 a glass talking horses to Rita, and Rita's telling him 0:33:12.920 --> 0:33:14.560 how good it was this year, and he's telling her 0:33:14.600 --> 0:33:16.720 how good the whiskey is. And she's like, oh, you 0:33:16.880 --> 0:33:19.040 like the whiskey. And he's like, yep, oh what am 0:33:19.080 --> 0:33:22.640 I doing it? You're the celebrity and profession you're the professional. Yeah, okay, 0:33:22.800 --> 0:33:24.880 would you mind being Harrison Ford for a second. I'm 0:33:24.960 --> 0:33:28.000 happy to okay, So I'm Rita. So she's like, imagine 0:33:28.040 --> 0:33:30.120 the scene. She's like, oh, yeah, I sitting there surrounded 0:33:30.160 --> 0:33:33.840 by log cabins, people elbow hobnobbin, talking horses and horse 0:33:33.880 --> 0:33:36.600 trailers or whatever they talk about. She's like more Champagne 0:33:36.640 --> 0:33:37.440 Harrison Ford. 0:33:37.600 --> 0:33:42.760 M hm, hey, but that is me, Harrison Ford, a 0:33:42.880 --> 0:33:47.120 flying airplane and I eat play though see flawless. 0:33:47.160 --> 0:33:49.240 I mean, it's like you're in the log cabin with 0:33:49.400 --> 0:33:52.160 Rita and Harrison or as I call him, Harry. Now, 0:33:53.040 --> 0:33:54.680 oh my god, I'm sorry, I have to apologize with 0:33:54.840 --> 0:33:57.160 I totally forgot to tell you how she's dressed at 0:33:57.200 --> 0:33:58.000 these events. 0:33:59.360 --> 0:34:01.720 Practically practically real close. 0:34:01.800 --> 0:34:03.760 So just put a little bit more fur on it 0:34:03.960 --> 0:34:07.440 and make it like a full white fur coat, like 0:34:07.560 --> 0:34:10.480 you know, like white, I don't know, snow leopard fur 0:34:10.600 --> 0:34:15.120 or something exotic, something endangered, and then diamonds and like, 0:34:15.239 --> 0:34:16.240 I don't know, a tiara. 0:34:17.280 --> 0:34:20.319 It's going hard. It's kind of more than I anticipated. 0:34:20.360 --> 0:34:22.640 I thought she'd be like in TJ Max's Finest. 0:34:22.680 --> 0:34:25.400 Oh yeah, no, she's got like the beaded tops or 0:34:25.440 --> 0:34:28.080 whatever those things are, like the sequins and beads. 0:34:28.160 --> 0:34:29.960 I don't know what the lame bryant of it all. 0:34:30.120 --> 0:34:33.120 I'm just imagining with the beaded tops that instead it's 0:34:33.160 --> 0:34:35.720 like those beaded seat covers for cab drivers. 0:34:36.719 --> 0:34:40.359 Not quite those big like like a wooden. 0:34:40.120 --> 0:34:44.640 Macro made top exactly. She's very experimental. She's very fashioned forward. 0:34:44.520 --> 0:34:46.319 Like so fashion forward you can't even see her. She's 0:34:46.360 --> 0:34:49.319 just down the line to hope that she's out there still. 0:34:49.480 --> 0:34:51.279 She's just in like a milar suit. 0:34:51.640 --> 0:34:53.800 Yeah, it was real. I thought you would appreciate her, like, 0:34:54.040 --> 0:34:55.360 I see if I can find some pictures and we 0:34:55.400 --> 0:34:57.480 put them on Instagram. She has a real best in 0:34:57.560 --> 0:34:59.759 show vibe to her outfits. And I know how you 0:35:00.000 --> 0:35:03.360 I love that movie go for that. Yeah, kimonos, we 0:35:03.560 --> 0:35:05.640 just kind of imagine that, but less fun, more crime. 0:35:07.440 --> 0:35:09.880 I don't know. Also, what is your favorite like middle 0:35:09.960 --> 0:35:13.239 aged woman's fashion tendency? Like I was trying to think of, 0:35:13.320 --> 0:35:15.719 like what stores it is that she's probably shopping at. 0:35:16.880 --> 0:35:18.000 Stated, That's what I was. 0:35:18.239 --> 0:35:19.640 That's only when I could go with and I was like, 0:35:19.680 --> 0:35:21.439 I don't mean to just pick on the Chico's woman. 0:35:21.560 --> 0:35:24.879 Is there like another brand that is j Jill j Jill? 0:35:25.040 --> 0:35:27.319 Okay, I don't know. I'd have to know her full 0:35:27.360 --> 0:35:29.960 aesthetic to give it a good assessment. Is she like 0:35:30.080 --> 0:35:31.480 a is she a department store? 0:35:31.560 --> 0:35:34.719 Gal No, no, are you kidding me? No, she is 0:35:34.840 --> 0:35:38.640 definitely boutique as much as possible. No. I mean occasionally, 0:35:38.719 --> 0:35:40.880 if she can't get out of Dixon, she may have to, like, 0:35:40.960 --> 0:35:43.600 you know, get her jeans at the local store. But 0:35:43.680 --> 0:35:44.200 other than that. 0:35:44.520 --> 0:35:44.960 Interesting. 0:35:45.080 --> 0:35:47.319 Yeah, Well, there was a woman in the horse scene 0:35:47.520 --> 0:35:49.840 who knew her very well, and she was talking in 0:35:49.880 --> 0:35:52.160 a newspaper article. And I found this and I thought, 0:35:52.680 --> 0:35:56.400 thistle answer Elizabeth question. So she clalked Rita's style to 0:35:56.480 --> 0:36:01.640 time and I quote, this is about her beaded gowns 0:36:01.840 --> 0:36:03.600 that you would wear to these events, like at the 0:36:03.719 --> 0:36:06.719 nighttime formal event at the American quarter Horse Association's World 0:36:06.800 --> 0:36:10.680 Championship show, and I quote, they're beautiful. I went to 0:36:10.719 --> 0:36:12.680 look at a couple of the blouses she wore. The 0:36:12.920 --> 0:36:16.760 used ones were eighteen hundred dollars a pop, and Rita 0:36:17.000 --> 0:36:23.840 didn't wear used I thought, gad zeukes the Midwestern jumped out, didn't. 0:36:23.680 --> 0:36:27.640 It, dad zoos? So she's like wearing designer duds. Yeah, exactly. 0:36:27.719 --> 0:36:31.320 Do you think she wore Carl Lagerfeld, Sure, because didn't 0:36:31.320 --> 0:36:32.719 he eat horse meat? 0:36:32.840 --> 0:36:35.279 Oh god, I don't know anything about that. 0:36:36.560 --> 0:36:38.680 Making that up is that's true, I make up most 0:36:38.719 --> 0:36:41.319 of what I say, but I do believe that it's 0:36:41.400 --> 0:36:44.120 true that Carl Lagerfeld was on like a horse meat diet. 0:36:44.640 --> 0:36:47.040 It's a lot of French people eat horse meat. 0:36:47.280 --> 0:36:49.719 I'm aware of that. They do eat horse meat over there, 0:36:50.280 --> 0:36:51.960 and I just tried to forget like. 0:36:52.000 --> 0:36:54.080 The synergy of her wearing lager films and. 0:36:54.120 --> 0:36:55.400 Eating horse meat, Carl. 0:36:56.840 --> 0:36:57.319 Horse meat. 0:36:57.360 --> 0:36:58.600 Well, I don't know about the horse meat part. 0:36:59.040 --> 0:37:02.279 Well, I haven't had. Carl Lagerfeld lost ninety pounds on 0:37:02.360 --> 0:37:04.320 a diet of tuna and BlackBerry moose. 0:37:05.320 --> 0:37:06.359 I'm not hearing horse meat. 0:37:06.680 --> 0:37:09.640 Oh yeah, No, it was rumored that Carl Lagerfeld's famous 0:37:09.719 --> 0:37:12.600 diet involved eating horse meat, tomatoes, and diet. 0:37:12.400 --> 0:37:16.600 Coke altogether of Vogue, Thank you Vogue. 0:37:16.600 --> 0:37:20.400 A slurry of horse meat, tomatoes and dyke. 0:37:21.080 --> 0:37:23.120 Slurry of horse meat. Thank you Vogue for something I'll 0:37:23.160 --> 0:37:27.920 never forget. And thank you Elizabeth for yet another gross dropping. 0:37:27.680 --> 0:37:31.959 A gross up. Oh calf's liver too. In Wild Straw. 0:37:32.960 --> 0:37:36.160 Well, I'm glad you asked about Rita and what people 0:37:36.239 --> 0:37:37.360 thought about her and money. 0:37:37.560 --> 0:37:40.920 So speaking of Rita, speaking of Rita. 0:37:40.800 --> 0:37:43.920 Crundwell and whether or not she came from money or not. 0:37:44.680 --> 0:37:47.440 People used to wonder if she'd inherited land from her family, 0:37:47.560 --> 0:37:50.840 and uh, you know it's true. She actually had inherited 0:37:50.880 --> 0:37:53.839 a horse farm from her mother. The details may have varied, 0:37:53.880 --> 0:37:56.040 but the general story was the same. Someone died, she 0:37:56.200 --> 0:37:59.120 got wealthy, right, That's like the story around the horse world. Now, 0:37:59.400 --> 0:38:01.920 that was pretty true. A whole ass town was literally 0:38:02.040 --> 0:38:05.080 dying and she got welcome. So there was the death man, 0:38:05.160 --> 0:38:08.480 well shark other everything else. The details a little wrong. Now, 0:38:08.600 --> 0:38:11.279 when Rita would arrive at a horse show before she 0:38:11.440 --> 0:38:13.600 would you know, set up her bass Pro shop Lincoln 0:38:13.640 --> 0:38:16.759 log cabin, before any drinks got poured for any horse 0:38:16.800 --> 0:38:19.640 loving stars like Lyle love It. Oh wait, I gotta 0:38:19.680 --> 0:38:22.560 do one more. Would you like some more Champagne Lyle loving? 0:38:23.200 --> 0:38:26.359 Hey everybody, it's me Lyle love It. I just stole 0:38:26.440 --> 0:38:27.600 Temple grand and shirt. 0:38:28.760 --> 0:38:30.560 It's amazing. It's like he's just here for a moment, 0:38:30.600 --> 0:38:31.320 then he disappears. 0:38:31.480 --> 0:38:33.120 Yeah, I get I transform. 0:38:33.680 --> 0:38:35.640 No, thank you for gracing us with that one. I 0:38:35.680 --> 0:38:36.279 always liked those. 0:38:36.320 --> 0:38:37.080 That one's on the house. 0:38:37.480 --> 0:38:40.080 Before Rita would pull on her white fur coat or 0:38:40.239 --> 0:38:42.759 for you, her white fur bikini and some hot little 0:38:42.800 --> 0:38:45.719 sequin number to dazzle the horsey crowd. Rita also like 0:38:45.800 --> 0:38:47.719 to make a big splash in the parking lotch she 0:38:47.760 --> 0:38:50.960 would like, I don't mean like jumping from a hike, 0:38:51.560 --> 0:38:54.160 like jumping. She didn't do it that way, not like 0:38:54.200 --> 0:38:56.440 pushing a watermelon off the top of a building splash. 0:38:56.560 --> 0:38:58.200 I mean like she wanted people to be like, Oh, 0:38:58.239 --> 0:39:02.080 it's Rita kind of walk on music pretty much. It 0:39:02.200 --> 0:39:04.600 was just like the sound of pain and suffering in 0:39:04.680 --> 0:39:08.200 her hometown. But drum beat was amazing. No, before she 0:39:08.239 --> 0:39:10.880 would get there, she would like have like her fleet 0:39:11.040 --> 0:39:14.960 arrive right. And her fleet consisted of a forty five 0:39:15.040 --> 0:39:17.840 foot Liberty Coach RV. And in case you're not in 0:39:17.920 --> 0:39:20.080 the market for RVs, that's one of the nicest ones 0:39:20.320 --> 0:39:22.719 that you can get. Yeah, so that one is the 0:39:22.880 --> 0:39:27.640 luxury liner of mobile forty five foot long Liberty Coach 0:39:27.800 --> 0:39:31.840 RV forty five long, way bigger than like your normal 0:39:32.080 --> 0:39:36.200 like a tour bus. Now, this boasted a king sized bed, 0:39:36.920 --> 0:39:42.680 five satellite TVs, marble countertops, leather wrapped railings, multiple tile floors, 0:39:42.920 --> 0:39:47.200 multiple tile floors, also a washer and dryer. I don't 0:39:47.239 --> 0:39:49.840 even have one of those in my apartment. Now, this 0:39:50.040 --> 0:39:53.160 whole thing costs two million dollars. Two million dollars for 0:39:53.239 --> 0:39:53.680 an RV. 0:39:54.080 --> 0:39:55.000 Great day in the morning. 0:39:55.040 --> 0:39:56.600 Do you know how much of Dixon, Illinois you could 0:39:56.600 --> 0:39:59.719 fix with that RV? No, of course, she didn't handle 0:39:59.800 --> 0:40:02.680 her horses herself. Now, Rita had professional cowboys for all 0:40:02.680 --> 0:40:05.440 that she didn't like brush down the maine and tail. 0:40:05.880 --> 0:40:07.120 She just would do boys. 0:40:07.160 --> 0:40:09.360 So there's the stall, set up the horses, right, So 0:40:09.520 --> 0:40:11.400 she'd have them mucking out the trailers and all that 0:40:11.440 --> 0:40:13.320 stuff that she didn't want to do. But those cowboys 0:40:13.400 --> 0:40:15.279 they weren't cheap either, so she had to have a 0:40:15.320 --> 0:40:18.319 trailer for them and then have you know, lodging. 0:40:18.080 --> 0:40:20.480 For them and so forth. She had a mighty convoy. 0:40:20.840 --> 0:40:23.120 Oh yeah, but she was really successful with this because 0:40:23.120 --> 0:40:25.280 of how much money she was diverting into her horsey funds. 0:40:25.960 --> 0:40:28.480 In twenty eleven, just before this is right before Rita 0:40:28.520 --> 0:40:31.120 gets busted. She gets busted in twenty twelve, the year 0:40:31.160 --> 0:40:33.440 before she gets busted, when she went to the American 0:40:33.560 --> 0:40:36.640 quarter Horse Association World Championship Show in Oklahoma City. 0:40:36.840 --> 0:40:40.360 That's a mouthful, quite She was the bell of the 0:40:40.400 --> 0:40:43.600 ball that year. She won fifty four prizes at the 0:40:43.640 --> 0:40:46.080 Oklahoma Any of those money or is it just all 0:40:46.239 --> 0:40:46.799 a bunch of other. 0:40:46.760 --> 0:40:49.919 Yeah, she's wanting some ribbons and some prize money. Yeah, 0:40:49.960 --> 0:40:51.680 like quarter million dollars kind of prize money. 0:40:52.160 --> 0:40:53.520 She was named the leading. 0:40:53.360 --> 0:40:57.080 Owner of the American quarter Horse Association that year. 0:40:57.400 --> 0:40:59.279 Yeah, she's pouring a bunch of money into the whole 0:40:59.360 --> 0:40:59.960 thing completely. 0:41:00.040 --> 0:41:01.880 Eighth year in a row, she was named Owner of 0:41:02.000 --> 0:41:05.479 the Year. I'll tell you your hometown's harder, and money 0:41:05.560 --> 0:41:08.839 goes far if you direct it in one tight funnel. Now, 0:41:08.920 --> 0:41:11.280 the only thing that her friends and neighbors knew about 0:41:11.320 --> 0:41:13.600 what Rita was doing down in Oklahoma City came to 0:41:13.680 --> 0:41:16.800 them from the newspaper articles because they would, like, you know, 0:41:17.120 --> 0:41:19.440 see like a headline, Oh Rita won again down to 0:41:19.480 --> 0:41:20.239 Oklahoma City. 0:41:20.280 --> 0:41:21.239 We're so proud of her. 0:41:21.719 --> 0:41:25.560 So going back to my man Mayor, Big Jim Burke, 0:41:26.560 --> 0:41:30.359 he was quoted talking about how all this prize money 0:41:30.440 --> 0:41:32.680 Rita was winning shown by the newspapers. He said, and 0:41:32.800 --> 0:41:35.720 I quote, we all knew that she had these horses, 0:41:35.800 --> 0:41:37.840 but you know, there were big write ups about her 0:41:37.880 --> 0:41:40.879 in the papers, and she's winning all these national championships, 0:41:40.920 --> 0:41:43.640 and there were stories flying around town that she was 0:41:43.719 --> 0:41:46.480 selling horses for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars three 0:41:46.560 --> 0:41:49.279 hundred thousand dollars. So we thought this was what that was, 0:41:49.320 --> 0:41:53.359 what was providing her this nice income, a successful horse business. Now, 0:41:53.400 --> 0:41:55.400 when she was caught by the FBI, Rita, as I 0:41:55.480 --> 0:41:57.920 told you, was the officially the fifth greatest embezzler of 0:41:57.960 --> 0:42:00.400 all time. That's how successful her horse business this was. 0:42:01.120 --> 0:42:03.400 Now she's like the Larry Bird of embezzlement, just this 0:42:03.520 --> 0:42:06.799 hard worker from the heartland. You know. Now, personally, if 0:42:06.880 --> 0:42:08.239 I was someone to ask me, like, what do you 0:42:08.320 --> 0:42:10.320 do for a living, I'm not going to say anything 0:42:10.400 --> 0:42:12.160 about my real life anymore. I'm going to use the 0:42:12.200 --> 0:42:14.960 Rita Crundwell method. I'm gonna start telling people, Oh, all 0:42:15.040 --> 0:42:18.200 my money it's in walruses. I'm in the walrus business. 0:42:18.480 --> 0:42:20.120 See if people go for it. I really like this. 0:42:21.719 --> 0:42:24.279 We'll take a quick break and after this I'll tell 0:42:24.320 --> 0:42:48.560 you how Rita got busted. Elizabeth. Yes, our girl, Rita Crundwell. 0:42:48.640 --> 0:42:50.279 I've been telling you about her. I've been telling you 0:42:50.320 --> 0:42:52.440 about Harrison ford Lyle. Love it, all the fun stuff 0:42:52.480 --> 0:42:55.560 she's been doing. But what else was she spending her 0:42:55.600 --> 0:42:59.440 stolen loot on besides impressing Harrison Ford with expensive whiskeys 0:42:59.440 --> 0:43:03.120 and champagne scented candles. Good call, good call. No, she 0:43:03.360 --> 0:43:04.359 was actually buying land. 0:43:04.920 --> 0:43:06.400 Well that's smart. Yeah, that's what you. 0:43:06.520 --> 0:43:08.239 You know, they aren't making it anymore, as Mark Twain 0:43:08.280 --> 0:43:10.600 would say, yep. Well, starting in two thousand and six, 0:43:10.840 --> 0:43:13.600 Rita she made some real estate purchases and she bought 0:43:13.640 --> 0:43:16.080 an eighty eight acre spread that cost her about half 0:43:16.160 --> 0:43:19.200 million dollars of her hometown's money. She dubbed her new 0:43:19.239 --> 0:43:21.759 spread Rita's Ranch. Now, personally, I would have gone with 0:43:21.840 --> 0:43:24.560 Casa de Rita, but that's just me. I don't know. 0:43:25.000 --> 0:43:26.560 You know, you had a name like Rita, you can. 0:43:26.480 --> 0:43:28.480 Really rude Marta Ritaville. 0:43:28.719 --> 0:43:31.680 Yeah, exactly. See already two better names right there. We're 0:43:31.719 --> 0:43:36.040 not even trying. So it was a complete horse breeding complex, 0:43:36.160 --> 0:43:40.200 training exercise compound. She even had a whole arena built 0:43:40.239 --> 0:43:42.479 for her to practice in. Just imagine her riding around 0:43:42.520 --> 0:43:44.960 the horses with an empty arena, her imagining the crowds 0:43:45.040 --> 0:43:45.480 cheering her. 0:43:45.880 --> 0:43:47.920 She had like a button she pushed in the sound 0:43:47.960 --> 0:43:55.560 of crowds. Confetti cannons all shaped like butterflies. 0:43:55.960 --> 0:43:59.319 Yes, Carrie, I know I threw that one in there 0:43:59.600 --> 0:44:02.759 from r carries a tour rider. She requests that there 0:44:02.880 --> 0:44:05.080 be confetti in her dressing room that must be the 0:44:05.160 --> 0:44:10.799 shape of butterflies. No moth confetti for miss Mimi. Now, 0:44:11.000 --> 0:44:12.920 as I told you, rita Cronwell salary from the City 0:44:12.920 --> 0:44:16.080 of Dixon eighty three thousand dollars. So people are willing 0:44:16.160 --> 0:44:18.600 to believe that this eighty three thousand dollars salary is 0:44:18.680 --> 0:44:21.840 being very well invested apparently. Yeah, So while she was 0:44:21.920 --> 0:44:23.600 a hob nubbing with the rich and famous in her 0:44:23.640 --> 0:44:26.279 white fur and her diamonds and tr or whatever she 0:44:26.440 --> 0:44:28.680 was doing, that was her one persona back home, She's 0:44:28.719 --> 0:44:31.320 still like all of her neighbors. She's wearing the you know, 0:44:31.800 --> 0:44:35.440 the boots a cow the cowboy, you know, flannels, like 0:44:35.880 --> 0:44:38.600 she looks like everybody else. And that is pretty much 0:44:38.680 --> 0:44:41.640 how she manages her whole criminal enterprise. Nobody looks past 0:44:41.719 --> 0:44:43.439 the surface of what she looks like as a middle 0:44:43.480 --> 0:44:43.879 aged woman. 0:44:44.360 --> 0:44:46.480 That's at the time. And in a small town, it's 0:44:46.520 --> 0:44:48.640 a lot of money. Today in a small town, making 0:44:48.680 --> 0:44:50.520 eighty three thousand dollars is a lot of money. 0:44:50.600 --> 0:44:52.759 It's not enough for a two million dollar RV. 0:44:53.520 --> 0:44:55.480 No do they not? Does the town know about the 0:44:55.520 --> 0:44:56.880 two million or ask to park it? 0:44:57.160 --> 0:44:59.680 I mean, she comes back to town with this compleet 0:44:59.800 --> 0:45:03.239 of cars under cover of darkness. She had like full 0:45:03.320 --> 0:45:07.760 on eighteen wheelers pulling horse trailers. Multiple she had multiple 0:45:07.840 --> 0:45:09.680 eighteen wheelers in her canoy convoy. 0:45:10.000 --> 0:45:11.759 She's probably just telling you know what, I got a 0:45:11.840 --> 0:45:14.279 great deal. If you go to the back of Tjmax, 0:45:14.920 --> 0:45:18.319 they have all the cars and trucks, ask for Cheryl'll 0:45:18.520 --> 0:45:20.479 people don't know. And then if you kind of bump 0:45:20.520 --> 0:45:22.759 it a little scratch that, you get another twenty percent off. 0:45:22.800 --> 0:45:23.920 Where do you think I got this bracelet? 0:45:24.120 --> 0:45:26.080 Yeah? Everything is she got a deal. 0:45:26.960 --> 0:45:31.319 The US district court that filed the indictment against her, 0:45:31.840 --> 0:45:34.280 they would not agree that she got great deals because 0:45:34.400 --> 0:45:36.800 they had actually the itemized list of all of her stuff. 0:45:36.840 --> 0:45:39.000 And I'll just read you a couple of the highlights. 0:45:40.120 --> 0:45:44.160 Between nineteen ninety and two thousand and six, she stole 0:45:44.200 --> 0:45:47.440 about twenty three million dollars. Oh wow, So that's that's 0:45:47.480 --> 0:45:49.759 when she got started in nineteen ninety two thousand and six. 0:45:49.840 --> 0:45:52.560 Twenty three million dollars over that sixteen year period, that 0:45:52.719 --> 0:45:55.080 gives you an average of about one point four million 0:45:55.120 --> 0:45:58.640 dollars a year. Right after she got going in two 0:45:58.640 --> 0:46:00.600 thousand and six, she starts ram printed up and she 0:46:00.640 --> 0:46:02.879 starts trying to win some of them championships, and world 0:46:02.960 --> 0:46:06.040 championships are not cheap. So she sat there and wrapped 0:46:06.040 --> 0:46:09.239 it back up to taking it about five million dollars 0:46:09.239 --> 0:46:10.279 a year and embezzled money. 0:46:10.520 --> 0:46:12.799 What is the town's budget every year? 0:46:13.000 --> 0:46:15.480 The town's budget, I'm glad you asked, is nine million 0:46:15.520 --> 0:46:19.239 dollars roughly. Oh, so she's taking more than half of 0:46:19.320 --> 0:46:22.480 the town's budget. When she got really going, and those 0:46:22.520 --> 0:46:25.919 engines were running red hot goodness, and they still weren't 0:46:25.960 --> 0:46:27.560 noticing it, and you know how she was getting away 0:46:27.600 --> 0:46:29.720 with it, but she was blaming the state of Illinois. 0:46:29.800 --> 0:46:31.640 She said that like, oh, they're supposed to pay for 0:46:31.760 --> 0:46:33.799 this stuff that I charged and I put the money out, 0:46:33.840 --> 0:46:35.959 but they haven't, so next year we should get the money. 0:46:36.000 --> 0:46:37.560 And people believed it because they're like, oh, you know, 0:46:37.680 --> 0:46:39.799 the state lawmakers are always stealing our money. 0:46:39.920 --> 0:46:43.319 Yeah, no one really pays attention to local They'll pay 0:46:43.320 --> 0:46:46.160 attention when the basketball courts are all checked up, but 0:46:46.400 --> 0:46:48.800 then they don't know the minute show of no and 0:46:48.880 --> 0:46:49.840 also he's counting on it. 0:46:50.320 --> 0:46:53.080 They like big mayor, Big Jim Burke. Right, he's a 0:46:53.160 --> 0:46:54.839 local guy. But they don't seem to like the state 0:46:54.920 --> 0:46:57.759 lawmakers or the governor. Like those people are not trustworthy. 0:46:57.760 --> 0:47:00.919 I don't like you read a Crundwell here understand small 0:47:00.960 --> 0:47:01.600 town values. 0:47:01.760 --> 0:47:09.279 Yes, like so, rita Crundwell. She meets fate One day when, 0:47:09.800 --> 0:47:11.840 unbeknownst to her, while she is away on one of 0:47:11.920 --> 0:47:14.640 her vacations or in this case, attending a horse show, 0:47:15.719 --> 0:47:18.600 a piece of mail arrives and it's a bank statement, 0:47:18.760 --> 0:47:21.279 and it's been basically sent to the wrong place, and 0:47:21.360 --> 0:47:25.040 it's on her desk, and this replacement for her. This 0:47:25.600 --> 0:47:27.759 the city clerk who's in her office trying to go 0:47:27.800 --> 0:47:29.919 through all the paperwork. She sees this one thing, sees 0:47:29.960 --> 0:47:31.719 it looks like she's on a bank reads it. It's 0:47:31.719 --> 0:47:34.040 a bank statement. She doesn't recognize the account, so she 0:47:34.120 --> 0:47:36.279 takes the account to the mayor. Maryor Jim Burke's like, 0:47:36.520 --> 0:47:39.400 I don't recognize this. Ask Rita what it is. She's like, no, 0:47:39.560 --> 0:47:40.520 I think that's the problem. 0:47:40.640 --> 0:47:42.280 It looks like this is Rita's account. 0:47:42.640 --> 0:47:44.880 Mary's like, oh, I can't be. She's like, no, I 0:47:44.960 --> 0:47:45.279 think it is. 0:47:45.320 --> 0:47:47.800 They look. He's like, oh my goodness, I love this 0:47:47.960 --> 0:47:48.520 nosey hero. 0:47:49.040 --> 0:47:51.040 Yes, I thought you would like her. So her name 0:47:51.120 --> 0:47:52.320 is Kaitha Swanson. 0:47:52.400 --> 0:47:55.200 By the way, well miss Swanson. First of all, I 0:47:55.760 --> 0:47:58.359 believe there was a whisper network in town. Everybody knew 0:47:58.360 --> 0:48:00.600 about this. It wasn't a secret. And she didn't just 0:48:00.719 --> 0:48:02.800 see something on the desk. She went dig in. 0:48:03.040 --> 0:48:04.759 I think she took her moment when Rita was out 0:48:04.760 --> 0:48:06.279 of the office. He's like, what's this, what's that? And 0:48:06.360 --> 0:48:07.040 went through it all. 0:48:07.000 --> 0:48:08.800 Well done investigator. 0:48:08.600 --> 0:48:13.040 Special investigator Kata Swanson. So Kaitha and Mayor Jim Burke 0:48:13.160 --> 0:48:15.719 have their moment together in his office. He's convinced by 0:48:15.760 --> 0:48:17.759 her to go take this to the FBI. He takes 0:48:17.800 --> 0:48:19.480 to the FBI. FI is like, oh, yeah, this is 0:48:19.520 --> 0:48:19.839 not good. 0:48:20.440 --> 0:48:21.279 This is not good. 0:48:21.400 --> 0:48:25.759 Mayor, Hey, Mayor, we want you don't blow the investigation 0:48:25.800 --> 0:48:28.040 we're about to start. Don't let anybody know. We need 0:48:28.120 --> 0:48:29.520 you to keep this under your hat. And he's like, 0:48:29.680 --> 0:48:31.360 I think I can do that, Like, no, we're serious. 0:48:31.680 --> 0:48:33.879 This may take some time. It's a small town. Don't 0:48:33.920 --> 0:48:36.719 tell anybody, not even like your closest friends. He's like, 0:48:36.840 --> 0:48:38.960 I tell my wife. They're like, okay, if you tell 0:48:39.000 --> 0:48:42.960 your wife, mayor just nobody else, don't take club. Nobody 0:48:42.960 --> 0:48:45.160 in American legion needs to know this one. He's like, okay, 0:48:45.560 --> 0:48:47.640 Like when can I tell them? When we boss Diard 0:48:47.680 --> 0:48:49.719 He's like, okay, how long will that be? And then 0:48:49.719 --> 0:48:52.279 they're like, just let us do our work. Six months later, 0:48:52.400 --> 0:48:54.560 they come into his office. They're like, we're going to 0:48:54.600 --> 0:48:56.160 need to talk to Rita. And that's why he's like, 0:48:56.239 --> 0:48:58.600 oh man, he's all excited. And that was the day 0:48:58.719 --> 0:48:59.920 that you were standing in the doorway. 0:49:00.160 --> 0:49:01.319 I remember it well. Yes. 0:49:01.520 --> 0:49:06.360 So what the FBI found was that Rita had basically taken, 0:49:06.560 --> 0:49:08.360 as I told you, a dummy bank account, but not 0:49:08.480 --> 0:49:11.439 only that, she'd created multiple bank accounts for the city 0:49:11.520 --> 0:49:13.719 that were legitimate. She would bounce the money through those 0:49:13.719 --> 0:49:16.439 different accounts, then she would create a fake invoice, send 0:49:16.480 --> 0:49:18.600 the money into that fake invoice account, use the fake 0:49:18.640 --> 0:49:21.760 invoice account, then to dummy back out to her account, 0:49:21.760 --> 0:49:25.120 and then she was hiding both the writing of the checks, 0:49:25.160 --> 0:49:26.920 the bouncing of the books, and where the money was going. 0:49:27.080 --> 0:49:29.960 So people were thinking it all looks fine. The amounts 0:49:30.000 --> 0:49:32.440 seemed to balance out because they didn't notice that she 0:49:32.640 --> 0:49:35.160 was the one who was, you know, saying you owe 0:49:35.200 --> 0:49:38.000 me money. You owe me six million dollars or whatever 0:49:38.160 --> 0:49:41.400 she was saying. So that's how you get a payday 0:49:41.440 --> 0:49:44.239 for Rita is you know, classic money laundering. You know, 0:49:44.440 --> 0:49:46.800 jay Z would be proud to her, so after she 0:49:46.840 --> 0:49:50.080 would withdraw her laundered funds and she'd go and buy 0:49:50.120 --> 0:49:54.239 all verus expensive stuff. The thing that was kind of 0:49:54.360 --> 0:49:56.279 working to her benefit, as I've pointed out a couple 0:49:56.320 --> 0:49:58.960 of times, is people didn't look past her appearance. 0:49:59.080 --> 0:50:00.600 And yet she was very aware of this. 0:50:00.760 --> 0:50:03.160 She would put on an appearance for the Oklahoma people, 0:50:03.400 --> 0:50:05.200 she would come home and take off that and she 0:50:05.320 --> 0:50:07.960 knew that people wouldn't do anything except for your girl, 0:50:08.080 --> 0:50:11.759 Katha Swanson Keith, Yeah. Now that is the advantage that 0:50:11.840 --> 0:50:15.279 con artists have over average people is that they know 0:50:15.400 --> 0:50:17.960 that a person is usually persuaded more by a good 0:50:18.080 --> 0:50:21.080 story than by facts. You're KEITHA and you you guys 0:50:21.120 --> 0:50:23.520 are rare who actually want to see the numbers on paper, 0:50:23.800 --> 0:50:26.080 want to investigate, want to get confirmation. Most people are 0:50:26.160 --> 0:50:29.560 like I heard readA her mother died left or a farm. 0:50:29.640 --> 0:50:30.600 That's good enough for them. 0:50:31.040 --> 0:50:31.600 That's what they have. 0:50:31.760 --> 0:50:34.000 And so if you can tell a good story, you 0:50:34.080 --> 0:50:36.400 can be a good con artist. Do you think, as 0:50:36.440 --> 0:50:39.359 a former school teacher and a storyteller, that you could 0:50:39.360 --> 0:50:40.200 be a good con artist? 0:50:40.440 --> 0:50:40.480 No? 0:50:40.880 --> 0:50:41.160 Why not? 0:50:41.880 --> 0:50:47.560 I'd feel really bad at my mark. My victim would 0:50:47.600 --> 0:50:49.879 have to be a horrible person, and then I would 0:50:50.080 --> 0:50:50.840 feel bad about it. 0:50:51.000 --> 0:50:52.759 That's totally that's the way within the balance. You don't 0:50:52.800 --> 0:50:54.920 have to only go after the innocent gullible. 0:50:54.960 --> 0:50:57.000 But I also have too many tells. I'm not good 0:50:57.040 --> 0:51:00.520 at lying. Yeah, it becomes real obvious. 0:51:00.719 --> 0:51:02.239 Here's how you can get good at lying. This is 0:51:02.280 --> 0:51:05.200 true for anything. Don't think you're lying if you believe 0:51:05.239 --> 0:51:06.920 your story. No, I mean, I know this sounds ridiculous, 0:51:06.920 --> 0:51:09.920 but you'd have to believe that this momentarily is the truth. 0:51:09.960 --> 0:51:12.120 And if you do that, your body will behave as 0:51:12.160 --> 0:51:13.880 if it's the truth. If you can just tell yourself, 0:51:14.080 --> 0:51:18.400 I will momentarily live under these imaginary circumstances. That's how 0:51:18.480 --> 0:51:20.200 you become a good liar. That's also how you become 0:51:20.239 --> 0:51:23.600 a good actor. Same things, the exact same. You have 0:51:23.640 --> 0:51:26.080 to emotionally convince yourself. You convince yourself. You can convince 0:51:26.120 --> 0:51:26.799 anything that's true. 0:51:26.920 --> 0:51:28.360 I could see that, So I think you could be 0:51:28.440 --> 0:51:30.319 should I practice start cutting people? 0:51:31.080 --> 0:51:32.760 Let's be able to talk about this. You can develop 0:51:32.800 --> 0:51:33.600 a whole routine for you. 0:51:33.760 --> 0:51:35.240 Yeah, I'll sign up for your classes. 0:51:36.040 --> 0:51:38.200 But in all honesty, as a teacher, you would you 0:51:38.239 --> 0:51:40.319 agree that a story is more persuasive than facts. 0:51:42.120 --> 0:51:44.080 I think so, well. I don't know, not in my 0:51:44.280 --> 0:51:47.439 time as a as an instructor, but I would say 0:51:47.480 --> 0:51:50.200 that as a writer, you know you can. You can 0:51:50.239 --> 0:51:52.719 get people to believe all sorts of things. You can 0:51:52.760 --> 0:51:55.600 get them to change what's true to them. So not 0:51:55.719 --> 0:51:58.520 necessarily facts, but everyone has. 0:51:58.440 --> 0:51:59.880 Their own truth, their interpretation. 0:52:00.040 --> 0:52:02.000 But yeah, whatever is true to someone, and you can, 0:52:02.120 --> 0:52:04.080 if you tell a good enough story, you can. 0:52:04.000 --> 0:52:07.560 Rearrange the value of the facts totally. Well, that's exactly 0:52:07.600 --> 0:52:09.840 what Rita did. Now, getting to a couple of the 0:52:09.880 --> 0:52:12.440 facts that people overlooked that I think would have been 0:52:12.600 --> 0:52:15.320 somewhat suspicious to me if I were living in Dixon, Illinois. 0:52:15.719 --> 0:52:18.439 Here's an example of some of the horses that she named. 0:52:19.040 --> 0:52:20.920 People would see these names in print, like so and 0:52:21.040 --> 0:52:23.759 so one like Rita Cronwell one with and these are 0:52:23.800 --> 0:52:26.799 the horses names, right, Okay, we'll play a little game. 0:52:27.160 --> 0:52:29.359 Four horses. I'm going to name three are real? 0:52:29.640 --> 0:52:29.920 Okay. 0:52:30.680 --> 0:52:35.480 Number one I'm money too. Number two I found a penny. 0:52:36.520 --> 0:52:41.240 Number three good, I will be number four Dixon Illinois 0:52:41.320 --> 0:52:41.840 can suck it. 0:52:43.800 --> 0:52:45.880 Oh, I don't know. What do you think is not 0:52:45.920 --> 0:52:49.879 the real horse name the penny? No Dixon, No, it's good, 0:52:49.920 --> 0:52:50.279 I will be. 0:52:50.880 --> 0:52:51.800 No, I'm hitting him. 0:52:53.360 --> 0:52:53.760 Illinois. 0:52:55.680 --> 0:52:57.520 But all of her horse names are about money or 0:52:57.600 --> 0:52:59.400 be like trickery. And people are like, yeah, that's just 0:52:59.520 --> 0:53:00.319 let's your inch risks. 0:53:00.360 --> 0:53:03.239 No, good old Rita well right under their noses. Yeah. 0:53:03.239 --> 0:53:05.160 Well, when the US Marshalls showed up, they had to 0:53:05.640 --> 0:53:07.640 collect all the ill gotten gains Rita had gotten over 0:53:07.719 --> 0:53:10.560 the decades she'd been fleecing everyone in town. They showed 0:53:10.640 --> 0:53:12.920 up and they find four hundred horses that they now 0:53:13.000 --> 0:53:13.520 have to move. 0:53:13.760 --> 0:53:15.279 Four hundred, four hundred horse. 0:53:15.320 --> 0:53:16.800 Remember some of these horses are worth two hundred and 0:53:16.800 --> 0:53:17.880 fifty thousand dollars apiece. 0:53:18.320 --> 0:53:20.800 Wow, exactly. So the DJ is like, oh man, what 0:53:20.880 --> 0:53:21.360 are we gonna do? 0:53:21.680 --> 0:53:24.200 They called up, I don't know, the cowboy US Marshals 0:53:24.239 --> 0:53:26.160 and they started like putting them in trailers and wrangling 0:53:26.200 --> 0:53:27.200 them up and going off. 0:53:27.239 --> 0:53:29.600 She had them like a horse infestation. Dude. 0:53:29.600 --> 0:53:31.160 They had to have a whole auction for all of 0:53:31.200 --> 0:53:33.800 her stuff, and then a large part of the stuff 0:53:33.920 --> 0:53:38.240 was hers her family bought back for her with what money? Yeah, exactly. 0:53:38.840 --> 0:53:40.400 So here's the list of some of the stuff that 0:53:40.719 --> 0:53:43.880 the DOJ took from her. Two single family homes in Dixon. 0:53:44.000 --> 0:53:47.359 A single family home in Inglewood, Florida. A horse farm 0:53:47.440 --> 0:53:50.839 in Dixon. The custom Liberty Coach motor home. They worth 0:53:50.880 --> 0:53:54.080 two million dollars. The Featherlight trailer also worth about a 0:53:54.200 --> 0:53:56.560 quarter million dollars. That's for pulling horses and so forth. 0:53:56.680 --> 0:53:59.320 A bunch of Chevy Silverado trucks because at least she 0:53:59.360 --> 0:54:02.720 knew good value. Some GMC trucks, but really those should 0:54:02.719 --> 0:54:04.440 have been dodges because they were cowboys, because that's what 0:54:04.520 --> 0:54:05.759 cowboys and cowgirls drive. 0:54:05.800 --> 0:54:06.200 But whatever. 0:54:06.360 --> 0:54:09.279 A Kenworth tractor truck, which was worth about two hundred grand. 0:54:09.360 --> 0:54:11.440 A freight liner truck these are the eighteen wheelers that 0:54:11.480 --> 0:54:13.840 are pulling the trailers, also worth two hundred grand. A 0:54:13.960 --> 0:54:17.680 Ford Thunderbird, a classic sixty seven Chevy Corvette once again 0:54:17.800 --> 0:54:21.240 nose class. And lastly a bunch of John deer utility vehicles, 0:54:21.280 --> 0:54:24.160 tractors and riding moment nothing rides like a deer, nothing 0:54:24.239 --> 0:54:27.279 at all. Then that's just the homes in vehicles. So 0:54:28.000 --> 0:54:30.200 imagine everything else. You got all the horse stuff, and 0:54:30.360 --> 0:54:34.760 the machinis for bikinis, and the various sent in candles 0:54:34.880 --> 0:54:39.800 find Corinthian leather bound books exactly. So on April seventeenth, 0:54:39.880 --> 0:54:42.000 twenty twelve, at the time of her arrest, in her 0:54:42.080 --> 0:54:44.320 bank account, she had one hundred and ninety one thousand, 0:54:44.360 --> 0:54:46.959 three hundred and seventy five dollars and seventy five cents. 0:54:47.040 --> 0:54:49.040 Because you know, it's also good at math, the doj 0:54:50.040 --> 0:54:51.520 and they made sure to get every penny. 0:54:51.640 --> 0:54:54.120 So this was twenty twelve. When did she start eighty 0:54:54.280 --> 0:54:55.120 three eighty two. 0:54:55.520 --> 0:54:58.400 She starts scamming in nineteen ninety. Okay, she gets the 0:54:58.480 --> 0:55:00.160 job in eighty three. Ticks are about seven years to 0:55:00.200 --> 0:55:02.279 cook the books. In that nineteen ninety she gets going 0:55:02.640 --> 0:55:06.320 and then for six a long run exactly. So the 0:55:06.560 --> 0:55:12.440 city of Dixon meanwhile left holding an empty bag. Yes exactly, 0:55:12.840 --> 0:55:14.440 They're like, what are we gonna do? Now? 0:55:14.480 --> 0:55:16.840 I told you they had like basically lost all this stuff. 0:55:16.920 --> 0:55:19.279 The cops couldn't get radar guns, the kids couldn't have 0:55:19.360 --> 0:55:20.240 basketball uniforms. 0:55:20.440 --> 0:55:21.560 Were out there with hair dryers. 0:55:21.719 --> 0:55:23.880 Yeah, just pretending that they have, Like, don't look too 0:55:23.920 --> 0:55:27.600 close the year agoing forty eight thirty five. Now they 0:55:27.680 --> 0:55:29.680 did all that obviously, so Rita can have her little 0:55:29.760 --> 0:55:33.200 my little pony collectionist show horses and like, you gotta 0:55:33.320 --> 0:55:36.000 love at least I don't know. I don't love is 0:55:36.040 --> 0:55:38.560 the wrong word. But there was a Netflix documentary on 0:55:38.640 --> 0:55:40.439 her story that was made. If you'd like to see 0:55:40.440 --> 0:55:42.719 more about the Rita Cronwell story, check out the documentary. 0:55:42.960 --> 0:55:46.000 But the director, Kelly Richmond Pope, who is a DePaul 0:55:46.320 --> 0:55:51.319 University accounting professor by day and a documentary filmmaker by night, said, 0:55:51.440 --> 0:55:54.359 and I quote, I feel like she had the last laugh. 0:55:54.560 --> 0:55:55.080 She won. 0:55:55.280 --> 0:55:57.360 She lived like a queen for twenty plus years and 0:55:57.440 --> 0:56:00.480 only served eight years. You do the math of won. 0:56:01.360 --> 0:56:03.000 So what do you put in the quote? Is that 0:56:03.120 --> 0:56:05.759 she after she's convicted, she does eight years in prison, 0:56:05.880 --> 0:56:08.360 federal prison. Her family buys up most of the property 0:56:08.360 --> 0:56:10.439 when he goes to auction, so she spends eight years. 0:56:10.520 --> 0:56:12.080 That's her price for all that she got away with. 0:56:12.160 --> 0:56:14.239 So this guy is saying, oh, eight years would be 0:56:14.280 --> 0:56:17.359 worth all of that. She's the winner. What's your thought? 0:56:17.600 --> 0:56:21.279 No, she's not. Because of it the fact that even 0:56:21.320 --> 0:56:24.320 if she was never caught, she didn't win. Yes, because 0:56:24.320 --> 0:56:28.600 that's the grossest behavior to take from the people around 0:56:28.680 --> 0:56:31.239 you who've supported you. Gave her a job at a time, 0:56:31.400 --> 0:56:33.680 like you know, at that time to be in a 0:56:33.760 --> 0:56:36.840 small town, to be the treasurer at the city of 0:56:36.920 --> 0:56:39.759 the town or as a woman, yeah, that role. Yeah, 0:56:39.960 --> 0:56:42.880 and she obviously everyone supported her growing up. And then 0:56:42.920 --> 0:56:45.000 she turns around and gives them the big two fingers 0:56:45.040 --> 0:56:48.200 to the sky and it's like, I'm taking all your stuff. Yeah, 0:56:48.520 --> 0:56:49.360 is this not winning? 0:56:50.280 --> 0:56:52.279 I'm with you. I do the methold differently than old 0:56:52.360 --> 0:56:55.000 Kelly Richmond Pope. I just see her, as I said before, 0:56:55.080 --> 0:56:57.319 she's basically a one woman version of colonization. 0:56:57.520 --> 0:56:59.320 She's just like I can if I can lift it, 0:56:59.400 --> 0:57:02.239 I'm taking it. It's just it's so gross. It is 0:57:02.360 --> 0:57:03.680 absolutely gross. What she did. 0:57:03.800 --> 0:57:06.359 I mean, stealing half of more than half of your 0:57:06.440 --> 0:57:10.759 town's annual budget. Yeah, okay, let's just put this in perspective. 0:57:11.280 --> 0:57:13.480 Let's say I stole half of the money from your 0:57:13.520 --> 0:57:16.600 family's budget. And I did that every year, year after 0:57:16.720 --> 0:57:19.080 year for six years. And I did this to fund 0:57:19.200 --> 0:57:22.320 my seahorse habit all right, and eventually I get busted 0:57:22.360 --> 0:57:24.560 by the FBI. Do you think if someone came along 0:57:24.600 --> 0:57:27.440 and said, that man, he's winning, would you be like, yeah, 0:57:27.520 --> 0:57:30.439 that's right, brother, that brother's look at that old folk 0:57:30.520 --> 0:57:33.160 hero there. No, they wouldn't because I don't look like 0:57:33.280 --> 0:57:37.800 Rita Crondwell at my point, so the only reason a 0:57:38.600 --> 0:57:41.000 fur bikini right now? Well, yeah, and we had sequence, 0:57:41.040 --> 0:57:44.160 but that's not Rita's. That's that's where Rid and I overlap. Okay, 0:57:45.400 --> 0:57:47.320 But the basically the idea is that here you have 0:57:47.360 --> 0:57:49.920 this middle aged white woman in rural America, and everybody 0:57:50.000 --> 0:57:51.840 would assume that she could be a criminal on the 0:57:51.920 --> 0:57:54.640 level of like some Walter White breaking bad level of 0:57:54.840 --> 0:57:55.240 like you know. 0:57:55.680 --> 0:57:58.000 That's why we have to assume that everyone is a criminal. 0:57:58.200 --> 0:58:02.880 Exactly solves that problem. I mean, that's essentially My point is. Look, look, 0:58:02.920 --> 0:58:05.000 you need to be both skeptical and optimistic and do 0:58:05.080 --> 0:58:07.520 both yea at the same time, and that's hard, it's exhausting. 0:58:07.880 --> 0:58:10.360 The answer is always the same, don't believe the hype. 0:58:11.600 --> 0:58:12.120 That's true. 0:58:12.520 --> 0:58:14.160 So what's our ridiculous takeaway. 0:58:13.840 --> 0:58:20.360 Elizabeth, ridiculous takeaway is that I really wish that they 0:58:20.400 --> 0:58:22.440 would have caught onto her earlier, because now I'm just 0:58:22.560 --> 0:58:25.040 like dwelling on the fact that the roads were all 0:58:25.080 --> 0:58:27.640 messed up and kids didn't have like parks to play 0:58:27.640 --> 0:58:29.400 in because she wanted to go ride a horse somewhere. 0:58:29.400 --> 0:58:30.960 Now she wasn't even riding these horses. 0:58:31.120 --> 0:58:32.400 No, she's winning, She's. 0:58:32.280 --> 0:58:36.360 Just parading them around. Oh, she's disgusting. 0:58:36.840 --> 0:58:39.800 I also noticed she didn't need a weapon to rob anyone, 0:58:39.880 --> 0:58:42.000 She just needed a pat And we always had to 0:58:42.080 --> 0:58:44.120 forget that when these white collar crimes do far more 0:58:44.240 --> 0:58:46.960 damage to a community than someone's sticking up the corner store, 0:58:47.040 --> 0:58:49.400 but they don't get punished. And I'm not suggesting that 0:58:49.440 --> 0:58:51.240 we need to punish people, but we need to consider 0:58:51.400 --> 0:58:53.960 the actual effect and impact of crimes as opposed to 0:58:54.240 --> 0:58:55.160 how they make us feel. 0:58:55.240 --> 0:58:58.680 You know what the heroic quality was here, Nosiness. Yes, 0:58:58.800 --> 0:58:59.480 I thought you'd like that. 0:58:59.600 --> 0:59:04.600 I knew Kaithus wantson was like your people to a Yeah, well, 0:59:04.680 --> 0:59:06.919 you know, as you know about me, Elizabeth, I would 0:59:06.960 --> 0:59:09.440 love to own a horse ranch. I love horses. I 0:59:09.480 --> 0:59:11.800 would just pretty much do anything to have a horse 0:59:11.880 --> 0:59:14.560 ranch on my own, except for stealing all of the 0:59:14.640 --> 0:59:17.520 money I can from my hometown. That is the Zaron 0:59:17.520 --> 0:59:20.680 Burnett guarantee. I like that, so thanks for joining us. 0:59:21.320 --> 0:59:23.200 I'm Zaron Burnette. And over there in the white fur 0:59:23.280 --> 0:59:26.760 and diamonds is Elizabeth Dutty. You can find us online 0:59:26.800 --> 0:59:29.760 at Ridiculous Crime, about, Twitter, and Instagram. Got a tip 0:59:29.800 --> 0:59:31.680 for us about a ridiculous crime you like to hear about. 0:59:31.880 --> 0:59:34.440 You want to confess to a ridiculous crime, email us 0:59:34.520 --> 0:59:43.400 at Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com. Ridiculous Crime is 0:59:43.480 --> 0:59:46.560 hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnett, produced and edited 0:59:46.600 --> 0:59:49.800 by Harrison Ford's horse trainer, Dave Houston. Research is by 0:59:49.800 --> 0:59:52.440 the President of the three quarter and seven Eighths Horse Association, 0:59:52.600 --> 0:59:55.360 Briissa Brown. Our theme song is by part time mayor 0:59:55.440 --> 0:59:58.160 Thomas Lee and our resident lyele Love It look Alike, 0:59:58.240 --> 1:00:01.280 Travis Dutton, Executive Producer, a Ben the Horse Breeder to 1:00:01.360 --> 1:00:03.960 the Stars Bowling and Noel Don't you dare Call me 1:00:04.000 --> 1:00:05.360 a Comptroller Brown. 1:00:09.240 --> 1:00:12.560 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts 1:00:12.600 --> 1:00:15.720 from my Heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts 1:00:15.800 --> 1:00:17.640 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,