A spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service said Thursday that it could take up to a month to choose contractors to run the sale of more than 400 horses owned by former Dixon Comptroller Rita Crundwell.

Last month, a federal judge allowed marshals to sell Crundwell’s horses, as well as 21 embryos, 13 saddles, and frozen stallion semen from eight horses.

Crundwell, 59, is charged with wire fraud, a scheme she used to misappropriate more than $53 million from the city over more than two decades, according to federal prosecutors.