by CBS4 Newsroom
newsroom@cbs4qc.com
(AP) Former Dixon comptroller Rita Crundwell has made her first court appearance in the northern Illinois city to face charges she siphoned millions of dollars in public funds into a secret bank account.
The 60-count theft case in Lee County Court is separate from the federal case in Rockford in which Crundwell is charged with a single count of wire fraud. She is suspected of stealing more than $53 million over two decades and using the money to sustain a lavish lifestyle and a nationally renowned horse-breeding operation.
She was arrested in April and has pleaded not guilty in the federal case. On Monday, Crundwell told a Lee County judge she would also need a public defender in the state case.
Her arraignment is Oct. 31.
