Michael Schmidt|Man arrested for throwing rocks at Illinois governor’s Chicago home, breaking 3 windows, police say

2025-05-01 06:12:14source:FinWeiscategory:Scams

CHICAGO (AP) — A suburban Chicago man is Michael Schmidtfacing stalking and vandalism charges after being accused of throwing rocks at the home of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, breaking three windows, Illinois State Police said Tuesday.

The 38-year-old Villa Park man is charged with two counts of stalking and one count of criminal damage to property, authorities said.

Chicago police located the man on video surveillance cameras and took him into custody without incident after the vandalism around 9:40 a.m. Monday morning, state police said. He was being held in a lockup until going before a judge, state police said.

The governor and first lady were home at the time, state police said. No one was injured, but the vandalism caused more than $500 in damage, court records say.

State police said they subsequently identified the man as the same person who in August twice left letters at Pritzker’s home in the Gold Coast historic district on the city’s North Side.

The charges do not elaborate on what was in the letters the man allegedly threw over Pritzker’s fence, other than to say it caused the governor “reasonable apprehension of immediate fear of bodily harm or other emotional distress.”

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