ROCKFORD — Beverly Beams of Tiskilwa waited in her seat after Rita Crundwell's sentencing hearing ended.
As people got up to leave, her eyes were fixed on a pixelated screen in a second courtroom designed to handle the overflow of people who attended Thursday's proceeding.
"Wait, I want to see her taken away in handcuffs," Beams said to two people who came with her.
She got her wish.
U.S. District Judge Philip G. Reinhard sentenced the former Dixon comptroller to 19 years and 7 months, nearly the 20-year maximum, and ordered her taken into custody immediately.
The 80-year-old Beams, a former Dixon resident who now lives in Tiskilwa, wanted the closure.