Gurnee woman arrested after missing court date

A woman who skipped a court date where she was expected to answer charges of attacking a police officer with a sex toy has been rearrested, officials said Wednesday.

Carolee Bildsten was picked up Tuesday by police at or near her apartment in the 5300 block of David Court, Lake County sheriff's Lt. Christopher Thompson said.

A $75,000 bench warrant was issued for her arrest after she did not show up in court Dec. 23. During a hearing Wednesday, her bond was lowered to $10,000, which she posted Wednesday night, according to a Lake County jail official.

Bildsten is due back in court Jan. 14, officials said.

The 56-year-old Bildsten was first arrested in early November after she threatened to hit a Gurnee officer with a female sex toy, police said.

Police said they were contacted after Bildsten walked out on a restaurant tab at Joe's Crab Shack in the 5600 block of Northridge Drive in Gurnee.

An officer investigating the case found Bildsten and escorted her to her apartment to retrieve the money for the tab.

At the apartment, police said, Bildsten tried to attack the officer with a “clear, rigid, feminine pleasure device” she took from a dresser drawer, where she claimed to have money for the restaurant tab.

The officer knocked the device away and arrested her, police said. The officer was not injured.

Bildsten was charged with aggravated assault and theft in that arrest. She also had a previous felony charge of aggravated driving under the influence stemming from a Sept. 15 arrest.

Court officials had rolled all three charges together for the Dec. 23 hearing she did not attend.