State Senator Li Arellano, Jr has released the following statement regarding reports that a former Rock Island County employee allegedly stole more than $900,000 in taxpayer money:
“The revelation that a former Rock Island County employee stole taxpayer funds over two decades underscores a persistent failure in Illinois: government fraud remains too easy and too often undetected.
As the former Mayor of Dixon, I saw the consequences of that failure firsthand as I worked to clean up the aftermath of the $53 million Rita Crundwell scandal. That experience fueled my commitment to public service and to preventing this kind of abuse.
Our current systems are broken. Oversight is insufficient, accountability is inconsistent, and taxpayers continue to pay the price. That must change. I’m pushing for stronger ethics laws, mandatory audits of government accounts, and the use of modern fraud detection tools—including AI—to identify misuse before it escalates.
Illinoisans deserve a government that protects public funds with the same care and scrutiny expected in the private sector—transparent, accountable, and built to serve the people.”