Federal agents won’t be prosecuted over pepper-spraying protesters in Elgin

Federal agents who fired pepper balls and deployed chemical agents against citizens protesting an immigration arrest late last year in Elgin will not be criminally prosecuted.

Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser announced that decision Thursday, saying that while at least one agent may have committed felony aggravated battery under Illinois law, the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution prevents his prosecution.

That agent was captured on video shooting a man in the face with a pepper ball from a short distance away, even as the man complied with orders, Mosser said. The pepper ball then ricocheted off the man's face and hit a nearby woman in the face.

“As reprehensible as the action was of this federal agent, under federal law, I am not able to charge the federal agent with the state offense of Aggravated Battery,” Mosser said in a written statement. “I would hope that this video would be used by the federal government to discipline this agent and train him on proper police tactics.”

NEWS RELEASE - Statement from State’s Attorney Mosser on December 6, 2025 Elgin ICE Complaints..pdf

The confrontation occurred Dec. 6, when hundreds of protesters gathered near an apartment complex on Maple Lane as federal agents attempted to capture a man they said was an undocumented immigrant and member of a Venezuelan gang.

They say the man rammed an agent’s vehicle into a tree, then ran away, eventually barricading himself inside a unit of the apartment complex where he didn’t know the residents.

After an hourslong standoff, the man was arrested by agents.

As that was occurring, protesters gathered at the scene, leading to several confrontations that Mosser said agents made little effort to de-escalate.

“Federal agents were pepper-spraying members of the community, walking in and out of the large crowd, engaging in banter with the protesters, raising non-lethal weapons, and even unholstering their guns,” she said.

But a handful of protesters were not complying with orders, Mosser noted, and some threw snowballs and other items at agents.

“While most were peacefully protesting, there were several individuals that were not,” she said. “Several individuals were yelling obscenities, throwing things at the agents, and disobeying lawful orders to back up and move away from the scene of an enforcement action.”

To view videos the state’s attorney’s office used in the investigation, visit https://tinyurl.com/s84da2uc. Note: There is plenty of profanity in the videos.

Elgin police’s role

Homeland Security officials said at the time that Elgin police did nothing to protect agents who were under attack. And some protesters said police failed to protect them from agents.

But Mosser ruled Elgin police acted appropriately, as they were bound by state law to not assist immigration agents, nor interfere with the federal law-enforcement operation.

Mosser said she also received information Wednesday from Gov. JB Pritzker’s office about the person who was arrested, identified as Luis Jesus Acosta Gutierrez. That unspecified information led to her to postpone a decision on charging him for entering the Elgin apartment without its residents’ permission.

Mosser noted that incidents like this are why she is trying to get legislators to modify the state’s TRUST Act, to allow federal authorities to notify local police of enforcement activities that may result in public unrest or protests.

The taxman cometh

A business owner from Inverness faces up to five years in prison after admitting last week to allegations he stiffed Uncle Sam on more than $1.2 million in payroll taxes.

George Dilles, 55, pleaded guilty to one count of failure to truthfully account for and pay employment taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced.

According to the plea agreement, Dilles was the president and part-owner of NG Enterprises, Inc., a company providing home personal care to elderly clients in the Milwaukee area.

Federal prosecutors said that in tax years 2019 through 2023, Dilles willfully failed to file required forms and pay taxes due for his company’s employees, which numbered between 50 to 110 workers.

Dilles is scheduled to be sentenced June 26 by U.S. District Court Judge J.P. Stadtmueller. Besides prison time, he could be fined up to $250,000.

Staying put

The trial of former Glendale Heights Village President Chodri Khokhar on allegations of forgery will stay in DuPage County.

Judge Daniel Guerin denied Khokhar’s request Thursday to move it elsewhere. Khokhar had argued he could not get a fair trial in DuPage due to pretrial publicity, discrimination and powerful political foes, including the village’s police department and the county state’s attorney’s office.

Guerin said Khokhar did not provide any facts to support his case, and that some of his arguments were irrelevant, unintelligible or insensible.

Khokhar also wrote Guerin “failed to apply judicial mind” when the judge denied a motion to dismiss the indictment.

“I am going to choose not to dignify your allegations … with any further statement,” Guerin said.

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