An inside view of the luxury motor home seized from Rita Crundwell, who is accused of embezzling money from the city of Dixon, Ill. The motor home along with several trucks and horse trailers are being kept in Milwaukee County, where they will be auctioned this week. Credit: Kyle Grillot

The breathtaking government corruption we've come to expect from Illinois has rolled and even galloped over the border into Wisconsin.

Rita Crundwell, the former comptroller for Dixon, Ill., was arrested in April and indicted on a charge of allegedly embezzling more than $53 million from the small city over 22 years and using the money to live in luxury and build a quarter horse breeding business of national renown.

Vehicles, horses and other property were seized by the federal government from the farm she used near Beloit, the Meri-J Ranch. Crundwell also had a horse farm near Dixon, and she kept horses in other states, as well.

An opulent, 45-foot motor home seized at the ranch is parked in a fenced lot in Milwaukee County used by the U.S. Marshals Service for storage. I'm not supposed to say exactly where. The coach was moved for a few hours last week to the Oak Creek Police Department parking lot to give potential bidders a chance to see it.

Kevin Carr, marshal for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, gave me a tour of the vehicle Tuesday and said, "It's almost like the lifestyles of the rich and famous, or really the rich and infamous."

It's amazing how adding $53 million to an annual salary of $80,000 can improve your standard of living. The motor home cost Crundwell more than $2 million.

"She spared no expense - tile floors, marble countertops, leather-wrapped handles and railings, you name it," Carr said. The coach has a king-size bed, five televisions fed by a satellite system, mirrors on the ceiling, a kitchen with all the appliances, even a washer and dryer.

Even though there's been no conviction yet, a federal judge has ordered the vehicle sold, with the proceeds going back to the City of Dixon, the proud boyhood home of President Ronald Reagan. It has a population of just under 16,000 and is about 100 miles west of Chicago.

The bidding closes Wednesday at 2 p.m. when Carr will open whatever offers are received. The minimum acceptable bid is $1 million.

The 2009 Liberty Coach is parking alongside half a dozen large horse trailers and the semi-tractors used to pull them. These also were owned by Crundwell and are marked "Meri-J Ranch," where they were seized. They will be auctioned eventually, along with more than 400 horses, including 50 in Wisconsin.

Assets seized outside Wisconsin include homes in Illinois and Florida, a 1967 Corvette, 2005 Thunderbird convertible, more trucks and farm vehicles, a pontoon boat and nearly a quarter-million dollars in cash.

With such a showy lifestyle, it's amazing that Crundwell, 59, was able to get away with stealing from the taxpayers for so many years, as charged in the indictment. The city's total budget runs around $22 million a year, so you'd think a million or two missing here or there would be noticed.

Crundwell served as comptroller of Dixon since 1983. She also was the treasurer and handled all the city's finances, which gives you a sense of how much she was trusted.

She is charged with transferring city money into an account that she used for herself. Then she created fictitious invoices to fool the city's auditors into thinking the stolen money was being used for legitimate purposes. To cover her tracks, she kept telling the mayor and city council that the state was late in its payments to the city.

Finally, after all those years, an assistant filling in for the vacationing Crundwell stumbled upon some numbers that didn't add up and an investigation was launched. "I literally became sick to my stomach," during a meeting with an FBI agent in this matter, Dixon Mayor James Burke said in a press statement in spring. He has vowed better accounting in the future.

The charge against Crundwell is called wire fraud and carries a maximum prison term of 20 years. She has pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.

If you have an extra million bucks lying around, you can own a piece of recent history that Dixon would like us all to forget. The motor home even comes with an ironic Wisconsin license plate: 2 THMS UP.

Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or email at jstingl@journalsentinel.com