Psych evaluation ordered for man accused of threatening DuPage officials
A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered for a Chicago man accused of threatening DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin repeatedly in phone calls and social media videos and messages.
DuPage Judge John Kinsella said Thursday he wants to see the results of an evaluation before he rules on a request to lower the $500,000 bail for Broc D. Montgomery, 49.
Montgomery is charged with nine counts of threatening a public official. He was arrested May 5 and indicted May 21, and pleaded not guilty June 1.
Eight of the indictments say he left threats via telephone messages. One said it was made on Twitter.
In court Thursday, prosecutors told the judge Montgomery made 126 Twitter videos between April 30 and May 5, threatening Cronin and county board member Tim Elliott, on a Twitter account labeled Retaliation, Discrimination, Treason DuPage County. He also posted photos of Cronin with his family, and of the guardian ad litem assigned to Montgomery's children in a pending divorce case, prosecutors said.
They played several of the Twitter videos, plus a phone call Montgomery made May 28 from the DuPage County jail to his father in which he spoke angrily about Cronin and hurting people.
In the profanity-laden videos, Montgomery accuses Cronin of allowing DuPage County judges "to commit pedophilia in the courtroom," speaks of "busting Dan Cronin's (butt)," says Cronin is hiding the abuse of Montgomery's children, and says, "Don't make me come over there, boy."
Montgomery's attorney, David Sotomayor, argued that the conditions of bail would be a sufficient deterrent for his client. If he makes bail, Montgomery must wear a GPS monitor, stay away from Cronin and Elliott and their families, stay out of the county's administration building, stay off social media, not consume any marijuana and take any medications prescribed to him.
He said Montgomery's messages "stem from a misguided belief that Dan Cronin is the puppet master of everything that happens here (in the courthouse). He clearly has a mental issue that has to be addressed.
"Clearly, clearly these are the acts of a person that needs some sort of treatment."
In some of the videos, Montgomery says that he is a former Bartlett Fire Protection District trustee. He also ran for a state House seat in 2008.