WEBVTT - Champagne for My Horses 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.440 Ridiculous Crime is a production of I Heart Radio. It 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:07.120 was a bit done, Zaren. Do you know what's ridiculous? Yeah, 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.040 I'll tell you it's ridiculous. Hit me with it. Okay, 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:12.680 when you don't want your car stolen, which is not 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:15.360 that's not ridiculous. No one wants her car stolen unless 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:17.160 you just need to get rid of it. Well, sure, 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:21.280 evidence wise, but let's say you don't trust the club, 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:24.320 you don't trust the locks or an alarm. Did you 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.040 know I think this is ridiculous. You can buy a 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:29.680 boot for your own car. I think I know you're 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:32.360 going with this like it's not just a municipal thing. 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:37.640 Did you get some reason to this one? Recently in 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:41.120 my neighbor's driveway. What your neighbor boots his own car? 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:46.040 Boots his own car? And I have decided that's ridiculous. Yes, 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:48.839 I would agree, an idiotic. Why did he boot his 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:51.720 own car? Because did you have the car stolen a 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:54.880 couple of times? Now? Did he have his like something 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:57.840 else stolen? He's just kind of like gunshie about this innocence. 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:00.840 I don't know, just snatch from him and now he's like, 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:03.320 not my truck. I think maybe he shouldn't be living 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:06.760 in the city. Oh yeah, yeah, definitely. So wait is 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:11.440 he like, uh, somebody from like rural small town America? Mhm, 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:16.000 what's this deal? I don't know, but he's ridiculous. I'll 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.160 completely concur with that. Now. I got one for you, Yes, 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:21.400 you're ready. This is a story. It's about a middle 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:25.600 aged woman. She's from rural, small town Illinois, and this 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.880 particular Midwestern woman she uh, she had his taste for 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:33.200 that sweet sweet horsey breeding life. Oh yeah. Now to 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:35.920 pay for her horse jones, she decided to dip into 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.600 the bank account, not of her wealthy husband, not of 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.920 her family, but of her town, her hometown, and she 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:44.400 used the money that she could on the horses, and 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:46.480 she started diverting so much of the town's budget that 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:50.680 the town was almost going bankrupt. The perfect criminals, since 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:53.360 no one sees her coming. This is the story of 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:57.160 Rita Crundwell, the woman who got hooked on horse. I'm 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.320 sorry the horses. Woman had got hooked on horses, those 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:23.560 sweet sweet ponies. This is Ridiculous Crime a podcast about 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:29.240 absurd and outrageous capers, heists, and cons. It's always murder 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:36.120 free and ridiculous today's bizarre tale, a small town crime 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:39.160 takes place in the American heartland. One of your favorite places, Elizabeth, 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:45.000 America's heartland is now this story of Rita Crundwell. It 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:48.120 takes place in a very specific part of rural small 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:52.639 town America, the Illinois town of Dixon. Now, this is 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:55.919 also famous for a couple of things. Before Rita Krundwell 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.840 was famous as the hometown of the star of the 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:01.400 Bedtime for Bonzos series of movies would later became I 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:05.600 Believe a politician Ronald Reagan that guy. Yeah h Then Dixon, 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:10.120 Illinois is also the petunia capital of well, not the world, 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.320 but of Illinois. It's the petunia capital of Illinois, which 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.640 is you know, high praise for Illinois. Also the catfish 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.640 capital of Illinois once again of Illinois fish not the 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.480 practice of doing people not like really good at like 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:25.639 cooking up with like like foreigners, getting them to come 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:28.720 over here and like wait a minute, cat the bottom feeder. Yeah, 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:33.600 this is not like Manteto's hometown. Now. Our second fun 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:38.400 fact about Dixon is that Rita Crunwell lives there and 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.720 she is the fifth most prolific embezzler of all time. 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:46.040 Of all times of all time. Dang Elizabeth, has the 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:48.200 FBI ever come to your home or place of work 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.640 and asked to speak with you? Well, Elizabeth, Um, no 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.880 they haven't. They haven't. They haven't asked to speak with me. 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.840 But one time when I worked at a certain place, 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.480 they came in, but not to talk to me. Did 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.320 you get to watch them operate? Yeah? Well not really. 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:06.520 They went into another office and then everyone was terrified 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:08.800 in our office and scarrying around, and I was like, well, 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:11.760 we haven't done anything, wait have we? And then okay, 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.640 well I've got a little fun visualization for you. You're ready. 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.520 This is the moment when the FBI comes to your 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:19.680 work and what that is like? Ready, I want you 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.160 to close your eyes, Yes, I want you to picture. 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:26.960 It's a Tuesday morning in April. It's early in the day, 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:29.440 a little after nine am. You're working at the Dixon 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:32.440 City Hall. You're a part time secretary, just typing away, 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.160 doing your thing. It's how Rita started at city Hall. 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.720 And you spot these three FBI agents to say, push 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.880 open the double doors. Streaming in sunlight behind them, the 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.920 noises of the day on Main Street Dixon all come 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.040 pouring in these FBI agents. They stride in with purpose 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.880 and they're looking past you and you're like, no, I 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.320 agree people, They're like, no, we know where we're going. 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:55.719 They go marching up the stairs. You go to follow 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:57.240 to see if they need help, trying to get to 0:04:57.279 --> 0:04:59.680 wherever it is that they're going. And as you're going 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:02.000 up the horrible steps, you can see them make the 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:06.120 turn and start heading towards the mayor's office. You're like, okay, 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:08.240 I know where they're going. So you trail behind them. 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:10.680 You follow them all the way down the hallway. They 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:12.960 get to the mayor's office. Mayor Jim Burke is in 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:15.880 his office that morning. This is a point of fact, 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:18.080 because he's a part time mayor. He's not always in 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.520 the office this morning. Common in small town he is, 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:23.480 It is very common now. Full time real estate agent, 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.040 part time mayor. Jim Burke is a good hearted guy, 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.159 and so you know, kind self effacing, kind of Midwestern guy, 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:32.240 Big Jim, Big Jim Burke, and the FBI agents come in. 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:35.560 He's really friendly, nice to them, and you're right on 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:39.040 the FBI S six right You're watching pass them into 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:40.760 Mayor Jim Burke's office because you want to see what 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:45.680 all this hullabaloo is about. Nose as hell. I figured you, yes, 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:50.719 and in imagination. So as Mayor Jim Burke is greeting 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:55.159 the FBI agents, you notice he doesn't look scared, frightened, intimidated, nothing. 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.080 He's cool as a cucumber in a bowl of hot 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:00.680 stung would say. Yeah. Big him is sitting there and 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:04.000 he's like, you know, I basically called you into the office. 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:06.799 It seems he's got that demeanor like he invited the FBI. 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:08.840 Know why would he invite the FBI? You're wondering, Well, 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.040 the FBI agents they don't say anything at first, they 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:14.840 just keep doing their business. And uh, you don't know this, 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:16.919 but you're about to find out that the FBI has 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:19.080 been working with Mayor Jim Burke to bust one of 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.800 the employees in city Hall and today is the day 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.040 for the silver bracelets to be slapped on their wrist. 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:27.279 Here Jim Burke's face starts to lighten a little bit. 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.200 He looks at the FBI guys, and you're like, what's 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:32.240 going on to you? The moment that the excitement is 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:34.000 just rippling through you and all of a sudden, Mayor 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:36.560 Burke says to the three FBI agents, are we ready? 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.559 They're like, oh, it's going down the on The FBI 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:43.159 guys replies, yes, let's bring her in. Mayor Burke picks 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:45.840 up his telephone. He dials an extension in city Hall people, 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.640 and then he waits, puts the phone on speaker mode. 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:52.279 You can hear the phone down the hall ringing. You're like, 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:54.040 do you call someone in the office. You hear a 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.000 woman's voice at the other end. Hello, She's got a 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:01.240 nice sunny, you know, springtime e voice. Air Burke, very serious, 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:04.440 very solemn, says Rita, would you mind stepping into my 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:10.080 office for a minute. Rita replies sure. Now a moment later, 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:11.840 her office door opens. You hear it and also me. 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:15.080 Then you hear his footsteps clanking. She's going down the hallway, 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:19.280 the marble steps her heels to get louder. She gets closer. 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.240 You're so anticipatory, you just cannot wait for the moment 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.400 what is going to be happening. Rita pokes her head 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:26.960 in the doorway that you're standing there in the doorway 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:30.120 with her. Now she squeezes and she says hi, and 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.960 everyone turns. A three FBI engagent turn Mayor Jim Burke turns. 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:35.640 You just kind of just glance over at it, because 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:39.120 she's standing there right next to you. The FBI agents say, Rita, 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:43.640 would you mind coming in? Mayor Burke reiterates, Rita, would 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.000 would you please mind stepping into my office? The lead 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:50.560 FBI says, Hi, I'm with the FBI. That moment has come. 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.600 You're like, oh, it's going down now. He flashes his badge. 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.720 Rita looks at it and her face starts to break 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:01.400 a little. She knows it's over decades of flies, the fraud, 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:04.040 the embezzlement, the scams, the cons all of it are 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.960 coming crashing down. But yet her face doesn't fully show it. 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:08.800 Just a hint of it is in her eyes. The 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:11.680 lead FBI guy continues, Rita, we'd like to ask you 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:15.680 some questions. Mayor Burke stares at Rita. Meanwhile, Rita's face 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:19.000 still hasn't changed. It's just placid, and you're like, how 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:22.320 is she doing this? She just keeps smiling. It just 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.200 the small perch smile breaks on her face. It's almost 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:29.480 midwestern and polite, super eerie. And then the FBI agents 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:32.200 slapped the cuffs on her and they say she won't talk. 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:34.880 They're taking into the office. They leave city Hall, they 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.720 perp walker out. Everybody is a gas. They're all looking, 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.880 Oh my goodness, it's Rita, Rita. I can't believe it's Rita. 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:44.560 That moment was the moment when Mayor Jim Burke finally 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:48.439 realized what we will call the dow of Rita Krundwell, Now, 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.840 what is the doo of Rita Krundwell, Well, as it goes, 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.959 he said, and I quote, it showed me she didn't 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:58.520 give us about our town. Oh yeah, So how much 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:02.200 do you, Rita exactly not give about the town of Dixon, Illinois? 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:06.400 Can you guess? Try the tune of fifty three million dollars? 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:10.920 Fifty three million dollars fifty three million. How did the 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.280 town have that much money to begin with? Well that 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:17.320 was over multiple years. She was just basically siphoning off 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:20.440 cash to pay for her horses, year after year after 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:22.880 year after year from the small little town until she 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:24.920 had taken fifty three million dollars in the FPI. I 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:27.520 showed up and said, we'd like to talk to you, Rita. 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:29.600 Can I tell you how excited I am that they 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:32.280 didn't kick me out when they started doing this whole 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:34.280 rita we need to talk to They just let me 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:36.120 stand in the doorway. I like that. I knew you'd 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:38.120 like to kind of just watch that same play out. Yeah, 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:41.920 the FBI is very generous, you know, in small town America, 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:45.240 and they sent the FBI comes. It's not like state 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:47.280 police or anything. So this is big time. Yeah, they 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.280 didn't bring the U. S. Marshals to grab her. They 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:53.760 wanted to talk with her and then to cover So. Coincidentally, 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:55.520 that fifty three million I just told you, that's the 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:59.720 exact same amount that Kanye West was in bankruptcy for. 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:03.800 He's not almost a billionaire. If he's not already a billionaire, 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:05.679 I don't know who cares. But the point is is 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.560 that's a sizeable chunk of money. It's enough to turn 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:10.480 you into a billionaire, and in this case, it was 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:14.840 enough to pretty much bankrupt her hometown. Now, let's say 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:18.120 you stole fifty three million dollars, Elizabeth, should we say 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:23.840 it together? Elizabeth? Okay? I felt good. Now let's say 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:25.720 he didn't donate any of it. You just had to 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.240 spend all of it on yourself for stuff or whatever. Gifts. 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.320 I don't care what would you spend fifty three million 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:34.160 I'll limit it. What animal would you spend fifty three 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:37.480 million dollars on? Oh? Dogs? Hello? Really you wouldn't go 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:39.680 like big like peacocks or bears. I would have a 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:43.960 standing dog army that would be completely pampered. Okay, yeah, 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:45.679 it would be wild. What would you do with your 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.160 dog army? I mean you've got enough money to pamper them, so, like, 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:50.960 how are you going to pamper them various acts of vengeance? No? 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:55.920 I would you have probably for them. Everyone gets their 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.480 own bed so they don't all try and sleep on 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:01.240 my bed. Okay, they get the list of foods and 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:04.480 table scraps. Okay, I don't know, buy like a bunch 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:06.760 of acres and build my own dog park. Like would 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:08.520 you travel with them? Would you get like maybe like 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:10.760 a very large trailer in a truck and you take 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:12.960 them on a road trip around the country with all 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.800 their heads outside of the sunglasses on all of them? 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.560 Oh my god, I would get the nicest sunglasses for 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:23.640 all the dogs. Everybody gets custom ray bands. Very nice, 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.840 very nice. You're starting to now get what Rita Crundwell 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:29.920 was about. Was she about that rude dude life. No, 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:34.360 unfortunately she was just about that rude life. Now, after 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:36.560 this short break, it's time to meet the star of 0:11:36.559 --> 0:12:01.160 our story, the embezzler extraordinaire, Rita Krundwell. Elizabeth M. You 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:03.480 used to live in a small town. You you told me, 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.440 yea the small town that we don't have to name it. 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:08.840 But living in a small town, you know what it's like. 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.000 Were there any any liars in your town? Anybody who 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.160 got busted for a lie? Maybe it was like a 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.040 divorce that all said came to light of scandal with money. 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:19.959 Is there anything like that? Of course, human beings live there. Well, yes, 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.520 I know I'm saying, but in small towns, it's it's 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:25.800 less likely that a secret emerges because people know the secret. 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:27.560 It kind of gets whispered about, you know what I mean, 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:29.480 Like it doesn't just get broken in the news. It's 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:31.319 more like people knew about it and then it's like 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.800 the news confirmed. But that's accurate. I think, Yeah, there 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:38.560 are secrets that that are sort of known secrets. Everyone's 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.679 in on it. But then sometimes she gets surprised out 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:44.160 of It's gonna be like the violent secrets. There's the 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.360 marital secrets. The money secrets, but oftentimes there's the whisper 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.640 networks that are very different than big cities. Right, you 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.560 can't be anonymous, right, exactly. Keep that in mind as 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.080 I tell you how Rita Krundwell pulled off for fifty 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.000 three million dollars theft of her How many people lived 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:02.600 in this Dixon, Illan About sixteen thousand people, right, Yeah, 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:05.880 that's pretty small, Yeah, pretty pretty small. That's big compared 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:11.360 to where I was living. People sixteen thousand would be 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.000 asked the big city, going into the big city to 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.079 like get your checks cash. Well, that's where like Starbucks 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.440 is five minutes away. Yeah, anyway, so I think that's yeah, 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:25.560 it's in the grand scheme of things. Pretty small town. Well, 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:30.000 getting to Dixon, Illinois, Rida Crundwell's hometown. Rita was one 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.160 of six Crundwell kids. She grew up on the family farm. 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:36.520 She was the type of teen who were cowboy boots. 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:38.480 She drove a beat up pickup trucks. She was in 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.880 a four age. She raised livestock, She competed in livestock shows, 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.160 and she showed up in the lyrics I think one 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.560 or two John Cougar Mellancamp song that's gonna say. She 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:51.280 sounds like a character in a New Country lyrics. Yeah, 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:53.920 she's like Tracey Atkins, ideal girl, drinking from a red 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:58.520 solo cup, sitting how much hey means to her? That 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.679 reminds me a home out. Rita Cronwells. So she was 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.280 also a smart girl. She was a National Honor Society member. 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:07.199 She was a popular girl, the kind of kid who 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.720 gets nominated or elected. I don't know how it goes, 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:12.320 but to her high school's homecoming court. Yeah, I don't 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:13.959 know how that works. Yeah, I think it's elected. I 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.880 don't know anyway. Rita Kronwell all American upbringing. Just keep 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:19.960 that in mind. Now, one of the facts I just 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:22.000 told you above is not true. I'll let you guess 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:26.960 which one. John Cougar mellencom Okay, So Rida our former 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:29.040 honor student girl with the big glasses, brown hair for 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:32.160 eight kid cowboy boots out in your mind. Okay. She 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:34.480 goes to work at the city hall thanks to her 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:37.160 high school's work study program. So she's like a junior 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:41.240 at the time. This is nineteen seventy Okay, So in 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.040 nineteen seventy one, she graduates and then she takes a job, 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.480 full time job at city hall. It's like, that's a 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:49.640 good job all town. So she's like, I'm keeping it around. 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.760 That same time, the mayor he creates this new position 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:57.000 called the town's comptroller. And the comptrollers you were familiar is, 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.360 handles the money. They're a little bit different than say 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.560 the treasurer. They are in charge of like writing the checks, 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:05.800 making sure that the checkbook is balanced. So this person 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.320 is important in the town at Dixon because, as I 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.360 said earlier, Mayor Jim Burke part time mayor, city council 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:13.840 and city council members rather there's four of them. They're 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:17.120 also all part time, so the city relies on some 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.320 full time employees to handle city business. So Rita Krundwell 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:24.000 joins this full time cartier of city hall employees, and 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:26.240 eventually she works her way up to treasure and then 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:30.680 from treasurer to comptroller. So it takes her about thirteen years. 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:34.160 So now we're in ninete, we're into the Reagan years 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.040 of America. There is a new feeling about rural America. 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:39.720 There's a new optimism coming out of the seventies and inflation. 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:41.600 So people are they're having a little bit of a 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:45.760 not a go go American moment, but the rural America 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.560 is feeling better about themselves, right. Rita takes that moment says, 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.360 I'm feeling better, but myself too right now. Quicker than 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.600 you can say Kevin Bacon and footloose, Rita Krundwell starts 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:58.720 angling for how she can make her new appointment work 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:00.680 for her. Takes her a little bit of time, about 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:04.400 seven years. About At that time, She's like, I think 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.280 I gotta handle how I'm going to scam this town now. Rita, 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.040 she's really good with numbers, like that's part of her 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:14.160 bag is that she's exacting. She's detail oriented and everybody 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:16.440 knows this about her. It's it's her rep right. The 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:19.520 mayor at the time of her arrest, to quote, Rita 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:22.480 was very efficient, very pleasant, She got along with everyone, 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:24.440 and she knew the job in and out. She seemed 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:28.000 like a perfect fit. Yeah, right, so that's her general 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:32.440 m oh everybody's reacting to now. Meanwhile, Rita is acting 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:35.640 like a Banana Republic dictator. She decides to take total 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.320 control of city Hall, which in this case means the 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:41.360 flow of information. She has all of the paperwork that 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:43.480 she deals with routed to a p O box so 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:47.320 nobody can see the mail that is coming to her. Nope, 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:49.440 the address that you normally would think of the mail 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:51.280 will go city hall. The whole reason why you have 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:53.600 a city hall was a building for business of city 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:55.600 hall to be done. She's like, no, send that to 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:59.120 my pel box. I'll do it at home. I'm this 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.000 is this is like way before are work at home? Yeah, 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:03.000 She's like, I'm a workaholic and this way I can 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:06.080 work on the weekends. And I see rita, Yeah, you're 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.040 onto right now. Yeah. Apparently in her small town everyone 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:11.400 was like, no, she's just so good at her work. Well, 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:13.560 and one of the things that I noticed living in 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:16.760 a small town is that you are sort of um 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:21.080 locked into your public persona when you're in high school, 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:25.080 and so whoever you are in high school tends to 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:27.520 follow you through. And so if you were like the 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:29.960 handsome quarterback and then you just kind of keep screwing 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:31.879 up later, people are always you know, but he was 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:35.960 the handsome quarterback, or you're the weird outsider, it's hard 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:39.360 to then change. And so she's like she it's hard 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.920 to reinvent yourself. Whereas like where I'm you know, born 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:47.040 and raised California. That's like a pastime, right, constant reinvention, 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:49.480 but you're not. Really it's hard. It's hard in a 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:51.800 small town. So I can see Rita. If she just 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:55.000 locks herself in in high schools like National Honor Society, 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:59.360 doing work study, riding around in a pickup truck, whatever, 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:02.280 like doing all the right things for h everyone's going 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:04.440 to see her like that, and they never they never 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:06.480 took a second glance. You're so right about that. She 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:08.919 apparently locked in then she used that. I think she 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:10.639 was aware of it, like you are that, like this 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.920 is all they see. So the meanwhile, Rita is like 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:18.520 basically doing exactly just saying, is creating this persona that 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:23.960 is impeccable and implacable in terms of like everybody thinks 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.320 they know Rita, they have no idea who Rida is. Right, So, like, 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:31.200 for instance, to advance her idea of her being really 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:34.240 frugal and meticulous about money, she always did ducts money 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:36.439 from her own salary for any day of work that 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:39.840 she misses. Right now, what this means is if like 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:44.480 she's out of office for like a week for to 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:46.680 go to a horse show, will say she did ducts 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:49.520 that from her pay and that balanced out that one year. 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.200 She makes about three dollars a year, so she one 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:55.400 year im only made sixty one dollars because she took 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.480 twenty two dollars off of her salary. So that way 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.000 it would look like, you know, did she not get 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:04.439 vacation time beyond? I think she may have used up 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.680 her page. So she's just above board, like yeah, look 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:11.800 I'm taking leave without pay. When she go to horse stuff, 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:14.240 horse shows and like travel, people don't know. They just 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:16.159 know she leaves. Wait a second, so she makes a 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.879 d g year and she took off. That's like a 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:22.959 quarter of the time. She's not even there. I do math, Yes, 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.320 look at it took me a second smoke coming out 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:29.280 of my ears. I was worried something caught fire. But 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:33.320 like that's like half, it's half of her time. So 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:36.760 they weren't doing this math. The local townspeople, they're just 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:38.199 so happy and they figured rid it was so good 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:41.600 at a job. Meanwhile, that same time, when she's out sick, 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:44.920 she's has like a family member go to her po 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:46.879 box and pick up her work to make sure that 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.080 nobody ever sees it. Maybe they're using. Like the metric 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:54.400 that I wish all jobs would do is like forget 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:57.280 the eight hours a day, forty hour week. However, if 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.800 you get your work done, then fine, you get paid. Yeah, 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:02.479 I'm with you. That should be the stap So, and 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.160 let's be honest, like a quarter of our time is 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:12.719 you know, doing I don't know crypto quip for instance. 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.160 For instance, I don't know just you know, spitball in here, 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:18.280 but I think you know she's she's laying out something now, 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:22.320 she's doing nefarious things. But if we're all honest with ourselves, yeah, 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:24.000 we could get all of our work done in three 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:25.959 quarters at the time she went way past I'm going 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:28.160 to make the biggest ball of rubber bands I can. 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:30.800 But I see your point, which is basically, you know, 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.160 people should be able to work as much as their 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:35.159 work is required of and not try to fill in 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:37.359 some arbitrary oh you gotta be here on the clock 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:40.360 kind of stuff, exact completely, and Rita would agree with you, 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:42.919 But I don't like that. I don't you don't want 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:47.840 her in your side. Rita creates her fake dummy bank 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:52.480 account and goes into business of Rita, Inc. She starts 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:56.840 sidelining money and creating like, well, what will soon become 0:20:56.960 --> 0:20:59.679 a vast empire in fortune in the horse world. And 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:01.800 the way she did it is she started a city 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:05.600 account but in her name, so that way she's the 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:07.879 only signatory on the account. But as far as the 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:10.719 bank is concerned, it's doing city business. So it's like 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:18.800 City of Dixon exactly, and with signatory Rita. So that's 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:20.480 how she starts to do being Bazzel funds. And she 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:23.520