Murder parolee accused of stalking in Kane County
An Oswego man out on parole three months after serving 19 years for murder is back behind bars, accused of stalking a dancer at a South Elgin-area strip club.
Bail was set at $500,000 Friday for Kurt E. Johnson, 51, of the 0-99 block of Ashlawn Avenue.
Kane County Circuit Judge Susan Clancy Boles told Johnson he had been accused of following a woman to her job and to her house, after being instructed not to, on several occasions.
Johnson was convicted of a 1993 murder in Will County. In that case, he was accused of shooting the boyfriend of his former girlfriend. According to news reports at the time, the ex-girlfriend testified Johnson, then living in Naperville, stalked her, and that she had an order of protection against him. He was not charged with stalking her.
“There was no stalking charge ever,” Johnson told Boles Friday. He added he had broken up with the woman in that case, and that her boyfriend attacked him and that he shot him in self-defense.
If found guilty of the current charge, Johnson could be sentenced to up to six years in prison, with probation also an option.
Johnson insisted on saying a few things to the judge, even after being admonished that anything he said could be held against him.
“I know we’re not going to try the case. ... I want to say things that are public knowledge,” he said. He went on to say the woman worked at a strip club, and that he has been a customer at the club. “I went to the bar as a customer. I was told to leave. I left,” he said.
Johnson was arrested Thursday by Kane County Sheriff’s deputies and Wayne police at a garbage management site not far from the club. Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Pat Gengler praised the security workers at the club, who called police. Gengler said Johnson had been banned from the club the day before, and that the woman told deputies Johnson had been following her to home and work for about a month. Gengler said arresting officers told him the arrest “raised the hairs on the backs of their necks” when they discovered Johnson’s record.
Johnson told the judge Friday he had signed up for classes at Elgin Community College and Harper College, and was supposed to start the ECC class Friday morning.
If Johnson posts bond, he will be outfitted with a GPS device to track his movements. He is also prohibited from contacting the woman or being within 500 feet of her.
The prosecutor had asked for a $2 million bail.