Paroled murderer pleads guilty to reduced charge in strip club dancer stalking case
An Oswego man on parole for a 1993 murder, who was arrested on charges he stalked a dancer at an Elgin-area strip club in early 2013, recently pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.
Kurt E. Johnson, 56, pleaded guilty in early July to the misdemeanor charge of attempted stalking of a dancer at Blackjack's Gentlemen's Club, 7N657 Route 25.
Johnson originally was charged with felony stalking, trespassing and other offenses in that he continued to contact the woman, send her gifts and even showed up at her house after she told him she was not interested. The woman was not injured and has since moved out of state.
The charges carried a prison term of up to three years; under the plea agreement accepted by Kane County Judge Clint Hull, Johnson was sentenced to 364 days in jail - the maximum for a misdemeanor offense, according to court records.
However, Johnson, who had been free on bond, had served more than 500 days in jail while the case was pending so his sentence was considered complete and he did not have to spend any more time behind bars.
At the time of his arrest in early 2013, Johnson was on parole after serving half a 38-year sentence for the 1993 murder of Michael Beshoar, a Morris man who had begun dating Johnson's ex-girlfriend.
Messages left this week for Johnson's defense attorney, Jim Ryan, were not returned.
The guilty plea also ended one of the longest-running stalking cases in Kane County.
In the past six years, Johnson was found not guilty of threatening a probation officer who was affixing him with an electronic home monitoring device, and a malicious prosecution lawsuit he filed against Kane County authorities was filed and ultimately dismissed.
The case also was delayed by defense attorney Ryan, who asked for a stay on the case while the state's Supreme Court considered a case challenging language in the state's stalking law.
The law was upheld.