Strange claims in case of man accused of threatening Will County state’s attorney
By Jon Seidel jseidel@suntimes.com July 12, 2011 4:52PM
Jason Chance
Updated: November 16, 2011 1:36AM
JOLIET — A downstate man charged with threatening the life of Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow on Facebook was found fit to stand trial Tuesday.
But the case of 38-year-old Jason S. Chance of Canton, who police say made more than a few idle threats, might end with a plea next month.
Nearly a year ago, Chance was booked into the Will County Jail on charges of threatening a public official and cyberstalking. He has been there ever since, unable to pay his $150,000 bail.
Chance stood quietly Tuesday while Judge Daniel Rozak spoke with his public defender and with special prosecutor Charles Colburn.
He pleaded not guilty in October, but he took his denials further in recent letters to the judge and legal motions. He is still accusing county officials of wrongdoing, including his own public defenders.
“They don’t want to offend Will County officials by winning cases because that would make Will County government lose money,” Chance wrote last month. “I have caught every single Will County public defender that I have investigated committing fraud.”
The angry writings are similar to rants Will County police say they found on Chance’s Facebook page. They were discovered after a 37-year-old female police officer accused Chance in August of threatening and stalking her on the social networking site, a Will County Sheriff’s spokeswoman said. The woman provided print-outs of Chance’s alleged threats, and police used a search warrant to find more.
Chance wrote it was time to overthrow the government with violence, police said, and he wrote his plans for Will County officials were worse than the Holocaust. Police also said he wrote that Glasgow “is soon to be a dead” man, referring to the state’s attorney with a gay slur.
Later, police say Chance claimed he was “venting” with sick jokes, but he acknowledged they were in poor taste.
The court in February found a bona fide doubt toward Chance’s fitness to stand trial. Since then, Chance has written that he was falsely arrested and says his imprisonment is “unconstitutional.”
He wrote that Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas invited the mayor of Canton to watch his arrest and publicly humiliate him. Canton Mayor Kevin Meade denies it.
“I don’t know who the guy is,” Meade said.
Chance also said police gave his Internet log-in information to other officers so they could “steal telephone numbers of famous professional fighters” Chance knows, embarrass him and gain the upper hand in a lawsuit.
Finally, Chance said his public defenders are working with prosecutors to inflate the county’s conviction rate. The public defender’s office declined to respond. State’s attorney spokesman Chuck Pelkie said the accusation is “outlandish on its face.”
Chance’s case is being handled by a special prosecutor because of Glasgow’s potential conflict of interest, Pelkie said. Chance is next scheduled to appear in court Aug. 29 for a status hearing or a plea.
