Canadian Man Wants Justice In Elmhurst

ELMHURST, IL – A Canadian man who says he is the victim of an Elmhurst landlord's fraud keeps trying to get the city's attention.

Elmhurst police say it is a civil matter between a landlord and a former tenant, not an issue for law enforcement. The man can sue the landlord in DuPage County Court, police say.

On Thursday, the Canadian, John Patrick Zakhary, emailed Elmhurst officials with many documents, including a message from the city's attorney.

In a recent email to Zakhary, attorney Andrew Acker said he followed up with the Elmhurst Police Department. He said the city still sees the matter as civil and considers the matter closed.

Zakhary has retained the law firm, Chicago Tenant Rights Law, founded by attorney Charles Drennen.

In an email to the landlord, Drennen said Zakhary has not lived in the local apartment since 2019 and that his client advised the landlord at the time that the company was entitled to retake possession.

"Despite his repeated efforts to tender possession, (the landlord) has engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation against him, relentlessly contacting him for an alleged debt that he does (not) owe," Drennen said.

The lawyer said the repeated collection attempts violated his client's rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the state's criminal code.

In an email to Zakhary, the law firm said it had contacted Elmhurst's deputy chief and spoken to him thoroughly about the issue with the landlord. He said the official asked Zakhary to refrain from contacting the police and the city.

"For now, please don't engage with them any further," the attorney told Zakhary. "Let me review the material he's planning to send me."

Zakhary has been contacting city and police officials for a year and a half.

Over the summer, he recorded a 19-minute video while at the police station and posted it on YouTube. In the video, he met with an employee at the police department's front desk. The person listened to Zakhary about the issue, but said no detectives were available at that time.

In an interview with Patch in the summer, Zakhary said he was out $40,000 for an apartment he rented for a couple of months in Elmhurst.