Frankfort Man In Custody On Charges Of Threatening Gov. JB Pritzker: ISP

FRANKFORT, IL — A Frankfort man was arrested Tuesday in connection with allegations he sent threatening messages to Gov. JB Pritzker, Illinois State Police said in a news release.

Illinois State Police said its division of criminal investigation special agents arrested Timothy Shemitis, 71, of Frankfort.

ISP said it was notified on March 3 of numerous voicemail threats that the governor's office had received from Shemitis. After an investigation, the Will County State's Attorney's Office approved one count of threatening a public official (class 3 felony) and one count of harassment by telephone (class B misdemeanor).

Shemitis appeared in court on Wednesday. He remains in custody at the Will County Adult Detention Facility.

According to the criminal complaint filed last week, Shemitis left "repeated voicemails over a short period of time containing threats to watch harm committed upon J.B. Pritzker" on Feb. 28.

Shemitis called the "Voice an Opinion" line operated by the Governor's Office of Constituent Affairs.

The complaint states that Shemitis "used telephone communication for the purpose of making any comment...which is obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy or indecent, being statements containing racial epithets and/or calls for violence, with an intent to offend."

"When public officials alert ISP of potential threats (calls, emails, in-person, or online postings), ISP implements its Inappropriate Contact and Communication protocol to assess the communication, investigate confirmed threats and those meeting a criminal threshold, and offer a security assessment to the subject of the threat," ISP said in a news release.