Aurora man, 25, guilty of threatening judge

A 25-year-old Aurora man will be sentenced Oct. 31 after being found guilty of threatening a Kane County judge earlier this year.

A jury Tuesday found Christopher Garcia Jr., of the 500 block of Charles Street, guilty of threatening a public official, a felony that carries a penalty ranging from probation to five years in prison.

“Threatening a judge, even as a joke or out of frustration, is just not a smart thing to do,” Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said in a statement. “We take threats to public officials seriously and we will prosecute them appropriately.”

According to prosecutors, Garcia was in Aurora Branch Court May 7 on a misdemeanor charge of resisting a peace officer when he became angry and was held in contempt of court by Judge Alice Tracy.

After Kane County Sheriff’s personnel told Garcia he would be sentenced to 30 days in jail for contempt, Garcia made several threats of violence against Tracy and toward the destruction of public property, prosecutors said.

According to Kane County court records, Garcia has been arrested at least six times for resisting/obstructing a peace officer and received jail sentences for five of the offenses. He also was sentenced to 42 months in prison for felony vehicular invasion in 2007 in Aurora, and spent 364 days in jail for a misdemeanor battery charge from the Kane County Sheriff’s Department in 2008, records show. He also was arrested on charges of DUI in Aurora in March 2013.

Garcia, who was being held on $104,000 bail at the Kane County jail, will be sentenced by Judge Susan Clancy Boles.