By Matt Mencarini for SaukValley.com
DIXON – About $37,000 soon will start making its way to the city to be applied toward former Comptroller Rita Crundwell’s restitution.
Thursday, Judge Philip Reinhard entered two turnover orders for assets the government had previously sought.
Crundwell was ordered to pay nearly $54 million in restitution, equal to what she stole from the city over 2 decades.
The orders were for $37,293.39 from the American Quarter Horse Association’s Incentive Fund Program, and a $2,000 personal loan to Donald Wolber, which already has been paid and $1,600 of which the city already has received.
The funds will be paid to clerk for the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of Illinois, then transferred to the city.
Between November 2013 and this December, the city received 19 checks for restitution. The largest, and making up the vast majority of the total money, was a $9.2 million check mailed to the city in December 2013.
As of Dec. 26, the city had received about $9.3 million, the majority coming from the sale of Crundwell’s land, homes and other property.
More assets are being sought.
Reinhard is expected to make a ruling on the fate of retirement fund reimbursements – totalling $90,565.86 – in the near future.
Crundwell is contesting the inclusion of those funds for restitution and several arguments by the government and Crundwell’s attorney, Ruth Robinson, have been made to Reinhard.
The government also is seeking to gain ownership of the personal loans Crundwell made to former City Engineer Shawn Ortgiesen and his wife, Angela, which have a remaining balance of about $181,690.
There’s also $38,434.13 the government already has filed motions for, including insurance premium refunds for canceled policies from two companies that specialize in horse insurance; money from the Breeder’s Trust Program at the American Paint Horse Association; and money in an account at The First National Bank in Amboy.
