Charges dropped against woman who sent bizarre e-mails to mayor

Authorities dropped charges Friday against a 45-year-old Lake in the Hills woman who had been accused of sending dozens of bizarre e-mails to Village President Ed Plaza.

The dismissal of the eight misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges was contingent on the woman, Amy B. Pezen, pledging to make no further efforts to contact Plaza who, according to court documents, received 41 e-mails from her in February 2008.

Those e-mails included a reference to Plaza being "put out to pasture," demands that he pay her expenses for life or be put in prison and request he move her to "better accommodations" or else something would occur to force the entire village's evacuation, court documents state. Others seek $500,000 a year "for eternity" and an annual income for the next 10,000 years.

Pezen, of the 1500 block of Jefferson Street, was not in court Friday, but her attorney said she would abide by the no-contact order.

"She has not contacted him and has agreed not to do so," Assistant Public Defender Kim Messer said.

Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Demetri Tsilimigras said prosecutors felt comfortable dropping the charges since Pezen has sought counseling, not sent any additional e-mails to Plaza since February 2008 and shown no indication she is likely to revert to her past behavior.

"We felt it would be just to dismiss the case at this time," he said.

Plaza could not be reached for comment, but both he and Lake in the Hills police approved of the dismissal, Tsilimigras said.

Lake in the Hills police arrested Pezen in March 2008 after Plaza turned over the e-mails. At the time police said they were not aware of any prior conflicts between Pezen, the village president or the village itself.