Feds: Ex-comptroller to plead guilty in $53M scam

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) – Federal prosecutors say a former comptroller accused of stealing $53 million from her small northern Illinois city will plead guilty.

Rita Crundwell is accused of bilking the city of Dixon to fund a lavish lifestyle and her nationally renowned horse-breeding operation.

U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Randall Samborn said Tuesday that Crundwell is scheduled to change her plea to guilty on Wednesday morning in Rockford federal court.

Crundwell previously pleaded not guilty to one federal count of wire fraud. She also has pleaded not guilty to 60 separate but related felony theft counts in Lee County.

Crunwell’s federal public defenders did not immediately return messages Tuesday afternoon.

Crashes Cleared Up From Interstate 80

Traffic is back to moving between Ottawa and Utica after a couple crashes on Interstate 80.

Westbound traffic began to backup this morning at 8 after a crash involving a semi and a construction truck according to State Trooper Craig Graham.  That accident was near the Utica exit.

While traffic was backed up for that crash, two semis crashed into each other a few miles west of Ottawa.

There’s no word yet of any injuries.

Attic Fire Outside Mendota

No one is hurt after an early morning fire near Mendota.

Mendota and Troy Grove Fire Departments responded to an attic fire just after midnight inside a two-story home along Route 251.  Crews had the fire under control in less than an hour.

Cause of the fire hasn’t been released.  The damage estimate is 10 thousand dollars.