A city of Chicago employee who police say sent a northwest Illinois state lawmaker two threatening emails last year was sentenced to two years’ probation after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of attempting to threaten the elected official, officials said Wednesday.
Joseph Haggerty, an inspector for the city of Chicago’s Buildings Department, sent the emails in September to Republican state Sen. Andrew Chesney of Freeport, indicating he wanted to physically attack him, authorities have said. He had previously been charged with two felony counts of threatening a public official.
Haggerty’s conviction comes amid growing concerns from Republicans and Democrats nationwide that public officials and politicians running for office have increasingly become subject to violence and threats. Records show Haggerty told Illinois State Police he sent the emails to Chesney because he had been “angry a lot lately, especially about politics.”
“Threats against public servants are not protected speech and they will be taken seriously,” Stephenson County State’s Attorney Carl Larson, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement Wednesday. “This resolution reflects the defendant’s accountability for his actions, while also providing a structured path for continued treatment and supervision to reduce the risk of future harm.”
As part of the plea deal, Haggerty was also given a 60-day “stayed jail” sentence, which means he’d have to go to jail if he doesn’t comply with the terms of his probation, Larson said. The deal also requires Haggerty to complete both a drug and alcohol evaluation and a mental health evaluation, and to follow through with any recommended treatment.
Larson said Haggerty has served 15 days in jail and was released to a treatment facility, where he completed a course of treatment. He also issued a written letter of apology as part of this resolution, Larson said. Haggerty is also ordered to have no contact with Chesney, his family or his staff.
“My priority has always been protecting my family and protecting the public,” Chesney said Wednesday in a statement. “I hope this outcome sends a clear message that threats will never be tolerated, while also recognizing that taking responsibility and getting the help you need is the right path forward.”
According to a police report, state police alleged Haggerty sent two threatening emails within a minute of each other to Chesney’s government email address on Sept. 2.
The first email from Haggerty stated he would “love to meet” the senator “on the street anywhere” and explained how he “would cave your f—————— teeth in and make you sip your food through a straw for the rest of you dumb ———hole coward life.” The second email called Chesney “spineless” and contained another threat and insults.
The following day, Chesney told a state police investigator that he didn’t know Haggerty and thought Haggerty might have been responding to an interview the senator did on WLS-Ch. 7 hours before the emails were sent to him.
In that interview for a story about Republican President Donald Trump’s then-plans to send National Guard members to Chicago, Chesney accused Gov. JB Pritzker, Mayor Brandon Johnson and other Illinois Democrats of fostering a “pro-crime, a pro-criminal environment.”
In the report, Haggerty was identified as a city of Chicago employee who works as an “Inspector.” City records show an employee with the same name works as an inspector for the Buildings Department and has an annual salary of $133,431.96.
A spokesperson for the Buildings Department declined to comment on the case Wednesday.
