Threat charges dismissed against Palatine teen

A Palatine teenager told a Cook County judge that he learned something about self-control in the nine months since prosecutors say he threatened a Rolling Meadows judge during a truancy hearing.

De Quante Parker, 18, was charged with threatening a public official, a felony. A judge at Maywood’s Fourth Municipal District courthouse dismissed the charges this week after Parker completed court-ordered anger management classes, said Cook County Assistant Public Defender Scott Slonim. Slonim called it “a fair resolution” to a case that began in April when Parker was only 17.

At the time, Parker faced a Rolling Meadows judge on charges he skipped school in violation of a Palatine ordinance. Parker asked to pay a fine, but the judge ordered him to perform community service. The teen responded saying “you’re (expletive) dead” which authorities say was a threat.

The judge ordered Parker held on contempt charges. The teen immediately apologized, but was held in Cook County Jail for eight days. When he was released from jail, authorities took him into custody for making the threatening comment.

Insisting that trying the case at the judge’s “professional home” would be unfair and inappropriate, Slonim successfully argued for a change of venue from Rolling Meadows Third Municipal District to Maywood.