Documentary screening about Rita Crundwell in Dixon

(KWQC)
Published: Oct. 28, 2017 at 10:23 PM CDT
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Tickets were sold out tonight in Dixon as residents and others from nearby cities filled the Historic Dixon Theatre to watch a documentary about Dixon's former comptroller and treasurer, Rita Crundwell.

Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope directed and produced the documentary called "All The Queen's Horses." She also teaches at DePaul University in Chicago.

Pope said she followed the investigation for years, driving back and forth to Dixon to speak with residents about what had happened.

"I thought the story was amazing and the process was really following the story and seeing it from beginning to end," said Pope.

Crundwell was involved in the nation's largest municipal fraud after she embezzeled more than 53 million dollars from the city.

Pope said there was a larger story to tell besides the fact that a city official embezzeled money and lived a lavish lifestyle.

"The larger story was how does something like this happen? How does a fraud of this size happen in a small town?" she said.

Pope hopes people also understand that this is not just something that could happen in small towns.

"I hope that people take away that this can happen anywhere. Yes, Dixon is a small town, but we're really using Dixon as a lense to understand that this can happen anywhere and it does happen everywhere," she said.

Many Dixon residents described the incident as a betrayal of trust.

"And it was very heartbreaking and disillusioning and the worst of it is the trust that she took from all the citizens and workers around her and how we had to do without while she was doing her evil deeds and handicapping our city," said Dennis H. Considine, a Dixon city councilman.

John Morley grew up in Dixon and said and his family owns a small business there.

"What went on in my mind was just disgust and frustration that Rita was able to get away with it for so long and how it affected our town, different things -- city budgets, equipment was neglected because we didn't have the money when in fact we did...," he said.

Stephanie Vavra is a Morrison County resident and says she came to the screening because although the story went national, it is a local story.

"But it's just such an overwhelming problem that was created for a small city. A betrayal of trust, but cunning and deception. I mean its going to be a great story, whether you read it or see it on film," said Vavra.

There was a question and answer session with Dr. Pope following the screening. There will be another screening in Dixon on Sunday, following by one in Chicago on November 10th.